The MSE Equity Price Index on Tuesday drifted 1.32% lower to 4,115.745 points as three of the largest companies by market size – namely BOV, HSBC and RS2 – trended sharply lower whilst another two companies – Malita and Santumas – also ended the day in negative territory.
On the other hand, Lombard, Medserv and Harvest posted gains whilst MIA, MPC and PG closed unchanged. Trading activity surged to €0.66 million mostly due to the heightened volumes transacted in BOV.
Bank of Valletta plc lost 5% to the €0.95 level on a total of 456,365 shares having a market value of €0.44 million.
Also in the banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc slipped 4.3% lower back to the €0.90 level albeit on just 2,720 shares.
RS2 Software plc dropped back to the €2.00 level (-2.9%) on low volumes of 2,783 shares.
Low trading activity also took place in the equities of Malita, Santumas, Lombard and Harvest. Malita Investments plc and Santumas Shareholdings plc plunged 5.3% and 6.7% to €0.90 and €1.39 respectively. Conversely, Lombard Bank Malta plc added 0.9% to the €2.24 level whilst Harvest Technology plc gained 2.1% to recapture the €1.48 level.
Medserv plc reversed some of yesterday’s drop as it rebounded by 2.7% to the €0.77 level across 24,700 shares.
Meanwhile, Malta Properties Company plc traded flat at the €0.50 level on a total of 83,000 shares.
PG plc opened at a high of €2.02 (+1%) before ending unchanged at the €2.00 level across 52,500 shares.
Malta International Airport plc retained the €6.10 level on volumes amounting to 5,055 shares.
The RF MGS Index trended higher for the first time in four days as it added 0.15% to 1,132.018 points. Despite mounting concerns about the new UK COVID-19 variant that is reportedly spreading to more countries, reports emerged that the AstraZeneca-Oxford University vaccine (which is much easier to transport and store than the solutions manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) is likely to be rolled out across Britain as from 4 January 2021. The UK Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency is expected to give its approval for the vaccine imminently.