Daily Market Highlights (21.07.11)

  • Local trading activity dries up reflecting investors’ reluctance to trade as a result of the prevailing global economic and political scenario coupled with the traditional slowdown during the summer period. MSE Share Index down for the third consecutive day with another 0.4% drop to a 20-month low of 3,279.489 points as BOV slips 1.9% lower. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, Eurozone yields continued to recover this morning reaching just below the 2.80% level resulting in the third successive decline for the Rizzo Farrugia MGS Index by another 0.3% back to 976.170 points. European leaders today will be holding an urgent summit to discuss a solution to Greece’s sovereign debt.
  • BOV’s share price fails to hold on to the €2.70 level and sheds 1.9% to €2.65. Fifteen trades amounting to over 17,700 shares executed this morning with few other bids unsatisfied at the closing price. Last Friday the Bank announced that it comfortably passed the EU-wide bank stress tests with a Tier 1 Capital ratio of 10.4% under the adverse scenario as assumed by the European Banking Authority and the European Central Bank. Further details available here.
  • Meanwhile HSBC closed unchanged at €2.87 on very low volumes of 640 shares. Bids already placed higher at €2.88 with lowest offers at the €2.899 level. HSBC’s interim results will be published on Friday 29 July.
  • This morning MIA published a revised passenger forecast for 2011. Earlier this year, MIA had stated that it was expecting to maintain the record 3.29 million passengers achieved in 2010. However following a 12.7% increase in passenger movements during the first six months of the current year and the expected traffic during summer, MIA is now expecting to achieve a 3.2% rise in passenger numbers to a new record of around 3.4 million. Further details available here. Equity remained inactive for the seventh consecutive session with offers placed at the €1.55 compared to the last closing price of €1.59. Investors now await the publication of the airport operator’s 2011 half-year results next Wednesday 27 July.
  • The airport operator is set to kick-off the local interim reporting season with the publication of its 2011 half-year results on Wednesday 27 July. HSBC will follow on Friday 29 July with Middlesea Insurance on 5 August, FIMBank on 10 August and Lombard scheduled for 23 August. The other 9 nine companies with a December year-end have not yet announced the date of their respective results publication.
  • Early next week, Crimsonwing is scheduled to publish its accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2011. Equity failed to recover from yesterday’s 2.8% decline to a new 19-month low of €0.345.