Financial News
Profit taking hits BOV
Investors booked profits during the opening session of the week at the Malta Stock Exchange although pockets of strength remain in the market.
Bank of Valletta dropped 8c9 or 1.3 per cent to Lm6.65 as the equity started trading "ex-dividend". The day's trade amounted to 29,905 shares which were exchanged across 47 transactions with the price recovering slightly towards the end after touching an initial low of Lm6.61.
Trading activity in HSBC Bank Malta amounted to 7,453 shares which were purchased across 14 trades pushing the price 2c higher in the process. The price closed at a fresh record high of Lm6.77c, bringing the gains registered so far this year up to staggering 71 per cent. Maltacom gained a penny to close at Lm1.76 on sustained buying activity which saw a grand total of 44,351 shares being exchanged across 32 trades, while sellers were the major force in Global Financial Services Group shares which declined 0c9 to close the day at Lm1.28.
Datatrak Holdings registered its first negative close in 40 sessions which saw an unbroken positive trend since mid-July. During this period the share price rose by an incredulous 162 per cent. Yesterday's decline saw the price lose a penny to close at the Lm0.46 level.
Elsewhere in the market, trading activity in FIMBank, Malta International Airport and Middlesea Insurance did not affect their previous closing prices of $1.85, Lm1.16 and Lm3.35 respectively.
Dollar strengthened against the euro
Europe's bourses were mixed yesterday as investors weighed the dollar's continued strength against the euro and the yen. The euro found a floor just above $1.18 yesterday morning, climbing 0.1 of a cent to $1.1824. The dollar slid slightly against the yen below Y118 to Y117.81.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 0.1 per cent to 1,219.59 while the CAC-40 in Paris was 0.4 per cent lower at 4,481.85. The Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was flat at 4,994.27 and the FTSE 100 in London 0.1 per cent to the good at 5,429.6.
Last week on Wall Street the main indices reached their highest levels in a month. The Nasdaq Composite was the top performer, with a 3.8 per cent advance over the five sessions. All but one of the S&P 500's industry groups were in the black for the week, as consumer discretionary shares led the charge, up 3.8 per cent, followed closely by information technology, up 3.7 per cent, and energy, 2.6 per cent higher.
The weekly gains came in spite of a flat Friday, when the Dow managed a fractional advance, rising 8.17 points to 10,530.76, as the S&P 500 index inched up less than a point to 1,220.14 and the Nasdaq advanced 0.4 per cent, or 9.21 points, to 2,169.43.
In Asia, Japanese stocks ended largely unchanged yesterday, with mixed earnings announcements, weakness in export stocks but continued strength in domestically focused sectors. The tech-heavy Nikkei 225 slid 0.1 per cent to 14,061.60. But the Topix rose 0.3 per cent to 1,499.12 - supported by strength in banking stocks.