Financial News

Larger capitalised companies dragged the MSE Index marginally lower during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange, while bond yields remained stable or increased slightly.

FIMBank clawed up a penny to close at a new record high of $1.95 as investors did not heed notice to a more than seven per cent dilution in the company share capital but focused instead on the standing of the new share holder, International Finance Corp, which is a member of the World Bank Group.

On the contrary HSBC Bank Malta dropped a penny to Lm7.10 as 6,905 shares were exchanged across seven transactions. A stalemate situation seems to be developing between outstanding bids and offers which are uncharacteristically spread at the Lm7 and Lm7.10c9 levels.

Robust demand in Bank of Valletta was equally matched by sturdy supply of shares. In fact 22,519 shares were exchanged, within a wafer-thin margin, across 23 trades. The price increased slightly initially but ended the session unchanged at Lm6.85c.

The biggest action was in Maltacom, with more than 50,000 shares being exchanged across 27 trades.

The price seemed to be well supported at the Lm1.73 level until the dying seconds of the session when the last few trades went through at Lm1.72.

Malta International Airport gained 0.6 per cent to close trade at Lm1.53c, its highest level in two weeks. Investors scrambled to purchase shares before the equity turns ex-dividend, and lose out on a net interim dividend of 2c5.

Broker downgrades drag London shares lower

Wall Street failed to muster a convincing rally yesterday despite lower crude prices and a raft of positive economic data. In the end, news of stronger-than-expected consumer confidence, a jump in demand for durable goods and record new home sales served mainly to raise fears of inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually flat, down 2.40 points at 10,888.32, as was the broader S&P 500, up 0.05 points at 1,257.51. The Nasdaq Composite index, dragged down by losses in Google, fell 0.3 per cent or 6.66 points to 2,232.71.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 5.6 points or 0.4 per cent to 1,237 while the German Xetra Dax lost 21.7 points or 0.4 per cent at 5,177.8 and the French CAC 40 slipped 29.3 points or 0.6 per cent at 4,559.4.

London's leading equities fell sharply yesterday thanks to the flat showing overnight on Wall Street and broker downgrades for Royal Dutch Shell Royal & Sun Alliance and Compass. By mid-day, the FTSE 100 was 36 points or 0.7 per cent lower at 5,455.0 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 was down 2.4 point at 8,345.1.

Japanese stocks reached yet another milestone in their upward rise yesterday before falling back again on nervousness about the pace of share price increases. The tech-heavy Nikkei 225 briefly touched 15,000 for the first time in almost five years before sliding back. It finished the day down 0.4 per cent at 14,872.15. The Topix ended the day down 0.5 per cent at 1,536.21.