Financial News

Equities continued to move higher during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange as lack of supply forced the hand of buyers who had to increase their bids to purchase shares.

HSBC Bank Malta added a further 2c, bringing this week's gain to 1.6 per cent. The day's turnover amounted to 3,720 shares which were exchanged across 11 transactions.

Bank of Valletta shares registered the same monetary gain but on less volume, to close the day at Lm6.87. The price immediately opened higher and remained sustained throughout the whole session as a total of 3,035 shares, carrying a market consideration of Lm20,841, where exchanged across 13 trades.

Lombard Bank was the best performing equity among banking stocks. Turnover was awfully low with merely 182 shares being exchanged across two trades. Nevertheless, the price gained 5c or 0.7 per cent to reclaim its record closing high of Lm7.10.

Away from the banking sector, activity was voluminous and spread across two other equities. Maltacom was the session's most liquid equity as 35,460 shares were exchanged across 15 trades. The price closed marginally higher at Lm1.72,1.

Malta International Airport saw its liquidity increase as investors sold their holdings as the equity turned ex-dividend. This increase in turnover was met by strong demand which saw the price close unchanged notwithstanding that fact that investors were purchasing shares without title to a net interim dividend of 2c5.

Tokyo shares close at a five-year high

European equity markets were boosted by the perception that eurozone monetary policy will be tightened by less than previously feared. The European Central Bank surprised few with its quarter point rise in eurozone rates.

Bourses were also helped by better-than-expected results from ThyssenKrupp and further takeover speculation in the telecoms sector. On the other hand London shares moved higher yesterday as oil stocks rose and Prudential said it would reintegrate internet bank Egg back into the fold.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose 1.4 per cent to 1,252.93 while the German Xetra Dax added 1.1 per cent at 5,249.70 and the French CAC 40 gained 1.3 per cent to 4,627.03. The FTSE 100 added 1.2 per cent to 5,485.2.

Wall Street got off to a positive start yesterday with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.7 per cent to 10,879.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added one per cent to 2,254.38.

The Nikkei 225 climbed above 15,000 to its highest close in five years, boosted by a strong performance among export and domestically-focused stocks. The benchmark average ended trading yesterday 1.7 per cent higher at 15,130.50. The Topix rose 1.5 per cent to 1,559.81.

The vast majority of sectors rose, but the domestic banking, real estate and construction sectors outperformed the market. Shipping - the most export-reliant of any industry - also made strong gains. Banks climbed two per cent as investors bought into Japan's domestic economic recovery.