Lacklustre trading across local equities

The MSE Equity Price Index shed 0.55% to a near two-week low of 3,738.140 points as the only three equities which traded today ended the session lower. Trading activity in equities was muted with just €30,289 worth of shares changing hands. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Bank of Valletta plc dropped by 2.1% to the €1.39 level after failing to hold to an intraday high of €1.43 (+0.7%) across ten deals amounting to 18,985 shares.

Also in the banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc eased by 0.7% to the €1.41 level across three trades totalling 1,993 shares.

A single trade of 300 shares pulled the share price of PG plc 1.5% lower to the €1.93 level.

Today, the Malta Stock Exchange announced that 1,294,303 new APS Bank plc ordinary shares were admitted to the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange following the recent scrip dividend issue at an attribution price of €0.55 per share, representing a take-up of around 13%. Following this scrip dividend, the total number of shares in issue increased to 379,097,872 shares.

The RF MGS Index fell by 0.25% to 891.157 points as eurozone sovereign bond yields with medium-term and long-term maturities moved higher. Expectations for interest rates in major economies to remain higher for longer increased following comments made by Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic who stated that in his view only one interest rate reduction will be necessary in the US during this year since the slowdown in inflation is uneven.

This report contains public information only and is not to be construed as investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Information contained herein is based on data obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but no representations or guarantees are made with regard to the accuracy of the data. Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Limited is a company licensed to undertake investment services in Malta by the MFSA under the Investment Services Act, Cap—370 of the Laws of Malta and a member of the Malta Stock Exchange.