MSE Equity Price Index slides to 5-week low

 

The MSE Equity Price Index declined for the fifth consecutive session as it lost a further 0.48% to a 5-week low of 3,952.209 points. The losses in HSBC and MIA were enough to outweigh the gains in BOV, Harvest and Mapfre whilst five other equities traded unchanged. Meanwhile, overall trading activity amounted to only €0.09 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Malta International Airport plc fell by 3.1% to a 3-week low of €6.20 as 1,613 shares changed hands.

Similarly, HSBC Bank Malta plc declined by 3.6% as it returned to the €0.81 level across 10,307 shares.

Also in the banking sector, Bank of Valletta plc continued to trade in a tight range as it edged up by 1.1% to regain the €0.91 level across 29,448 shares.

Following last Friday’s sharp decline, BOV’s insurance subsidiary Mapfre Middlesea plc, rebounded by 0.9% to the €2.18 level as 2,812 shares changed hands.

Harvest Technology plc recovered from an intraday low of €1.54 (-0.6%) before closing 0.6% higher at the €1.56 level as 17,592 shares changed hands.

GO plc traded flat at the €3.40 level across 1,250 shares. Last week, GO published a prospectus in relation to the issuance of €60 million bonds maturing in 2031 at a coupon of 3.50% per annum. The net proceeds from the bond issue will be primarily used by the company to repay borrowings held with the European Investment Bank, to rollout a new network and for investment in information technology systems. The bonds are expected to be admitted to the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange on Monday 5 July 2021 whilst trading would be possible as from Tuesday 6 July 2021. Meanwhile, GO will be paying out a final net dividend of €0.16 per share today.

GO’s data centre subsidiary, BMIT Technologies plc, closed unchanged at the €0.49 level as 16,650 shares changed hands.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc remained at the €9.00 level across a single trade of insignificant volumes. Last week, Farsons published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 January 2021 whereby the Group generated a profit before tax for the year which amounted to €4.4 million, a decrease of €7.9 million over that reported in FY2020 as the Group was heavily impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In their commentary, the Directors noted that given the effectiveness of the vaccine and ongoing inoculation programs, they are cautiously optimistic that it will be able to report improved results in FY2022.

A single trade of 2,500 shares kept Malita Investments plc rooted to the €0.86 level.

Meanwhile, International Hotel Investments plc closed flat at the €0.65 across a single deal of trivial volumes.

The RF MGS Index opened the week 0.03% lower at 1,103.495 points as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (‘OECD’) raised its growth forecasts to 5.8% for this year and to 4.4% for 2022 when compared to its previous forecasts released in March. Today, the chief economist of the OECD Laurence Boone wrote that the increase in global output should bring most economies back to pre-pandemic GDP levels by 2022. The OECD also noted that central banks in advanced economies should keep financial conditions relaxed and tolerate inflation overshooting their targets. Meanwhile, various Eurozone countries reported subdued month-on-month growth in their respective Consumer Price Index (‘CPI’), with Italy in particular reporting no growth.