The MSE Equity Price Index erased all of Thursday’s gains as it declined by 0.59% to end the week at 4,023.463 points.
The declines in MIA, HSBC, Medserv, Farsons and Harvest outweighed the positive performance in RS2 and MaltaPost whilst three other equities ended the day unchanged. Meanwhile, trading activity improved to €0.22 million from €0.17 million yesterday.
HSBC Bank Malta plc closed at a near 2-month low as it shed just over 4% to the €0.94 level across 31,000 shares.
Malta International Airport plc eased by 1.7% to close at the €5.65 level across 9,645 shares. Yesterday, the airport operator confirmed that six airlines will be offering direct connections to 17 airports in nine countries and regions as from 1 July.
A single trade of 5,000 shares saw Medserv plc plunge 7.7% to a fresh all-time low of €0.60
Meanwhile, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc shed 1.2% to the €7.95 level across 2,223 shares whilst a single trade of 2,000 shares in Harvest Technology plc saw the price fall by 1.4% to the €1.45 level.
Today’s most actively traded equity, RS2 Software plc, climbed by 0.9% to approach a near 3-month high of €2.32 across 27,445 shares.
Friday’s only other positively performing equity, MaltaPost plc, recovered from yesterday’s decline as the equity jumped by nearly 3.5% to the €1.20 level across 9,754 shares.
Elsewhere, Bank of Valletta plc remained unchanged at the €1.00 level as 18,377 shares changed hands.
Similarly, FIMBank plc retained the USD0.40 level across three trades totalling 13,444 shares after recovering from an intraday low of USD0.39 (-2.5%).
Malita Investments plc ended the day flat at the €0.89 level across 20,000 shares.
The RF MGS Index added 0.08% to 1,096.717 points continuing its recovery from the 17-month low registered on Wednesday.
Today, fresh economic data revealed that industrial production within the euro area plunged by 17.1% month-over-month during April 2020, following an upwardly revised 11.9% decline in the previous month and compared to market forecasts of a 20% drop.
The contraction in production was the biggest decline on record and significantly higher than the 3-4% drops seen in late 2008 and early 2009 during the financial crisis, as coronavirus containment measures meant businesses and factories were forced to temporarily close.
Among the bloc’s largest economies, production in Spain was the worst effected as it fell by 22.4%, followed by Germany (-21%), France by (-20.3%) and Italy (-19.1%).