Daily Market Highlights (22.09.16)

  • The MSE Share Index edged up by a marginal 0.02% to 4,418.845 points today as the small rebound in the share price of RS2 outweighed the declines in the three property-related companies, namely Malta Properties, Malita Investments and Plaza Centres. Download a copy of today’s Equity Market Summary.
  • On the bond market, the RF MGS Index registered its strongest daily uplift in nearly three months as it advanced by 0.34% to a fresh seventeen-month high of 1,171.453 points. The indicative bid prices quoted by the Central Bank of Malta for all of the longer dated Government stocks (with the exception of the 3.00% 2040 I issue) reached new record highs today as euro zone yields slumped in reaction to the latest developments from the US Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan. During yesterday’s monetary policy meeting, the Federal Reserve decided to leave interest rates unchanged (the sixth time in a row) but suggested a rate hike by the end of 2016 on the basis of an improved economic environment and solid growth in the number of jobs being created in the US. In parallel, the Bank of Japan surprised markets by introducing a new policy-easing tool to help it fight deflation and kick start economic growth – namely a zero-interest-rate target for ten-year Japanese government bonds. As a result, the 10-year benchmark German Bund yield drifted further into negative territory to -0.044% whilst the yields on Italian and Spanish bonds fell to 1.224% and 0.944% respectively.
  • Trading activity in the newly issued 2.4% MGS 2041 (I) r continued to be particularly robust as another €2.45 million (nominal) changed hands today, with the price rising by a further 25 basis points to a new record high of 108.00%.
  • Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc virtually closed unchanged at the €2.251 level on activity totalling 10,743 shares while HSBC and FIMBank finished the day flat. FIMBank plc failed to hold on to its intra-day high of USD0.92 as it closed unchanged at USD0.91 across 37,563 shares. HSBC Bank Malta plc maintained the €1.62 level on thin volumes.
  • The equity of RS2 Software plc closed 0.9% higher to the €1.63 level after briefly touching an intra-day low of €1.60. A total of 21,318 shares changed hands today.
  • Malita Investments plc lost 1.0% and declined to its 2016 low of €0.851 on low activity.
  • Within the same segment, Malta Properties Company plc slipped by 2.6% to the €0.521 level across 83,000 shares whilst Plaza Centres plc eased 0.4% to close the day at the €1.12 level on volumes totalling 12,000 shares.