Financial News

Following the weekend local investors returned to the equity market without being particularly aggressive both on the bid and offer side.

Malta International Airport was the day's top gainer on the main board. Certain investors, unwilling to wait for the eventual sale of share in the company by the government to the public, decided to purchase a total of 10,756 shares across seven trades. In the process the price increased by 2.7 per cent to close the session at its all-time high of Lm1.40.

HSBC Bank Malta moved higher by the slimmest of margins. Activity was for 8,981 shares, having a market consideration of Lm54,517. Lombard Bank shares, on the contrary suffered a full percentage decline, as investors continued to book profits, following its recent rise to an all-time high of Lm6.50c. During yesterday's session, a total of 4,024 shares were struck across four deals, knocking the price lower by seven cents to close at Lm6.43.

International Hotel Investments traded in large amounts, with 21,028 shares being exchanged across just three transactions. The price ended the day 2.1 per cent lower at the €0.685 level, much lower than its recent support level.

San Tumas Shareholdings, a closed-ended investment scheme, registered a 25 per cent rise when two shareholders swapped 2,066 shares among them at the Lm1 level.

Frankfurt lower after German election deadlock

Frankfurt-listed stocks sharply underperformed other European equity markets yesterday after Germany's election failed to produce a clear winner, and the country's investors face weeks of political uncertainty. By midday, the Xetra Dax index was down 1.2 per cent to 4,927.12. Having also started lower, the region's other main markets regained some poise - the CAC-40 in Paris remained flat at 4,508.8, but London's FTSE 100 added 0.1 per cent to 5,414.6, and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 climbed 0.2 per cent to 1,216.11.

Angela Merkel, the centre-right candidate, had vowed to cut bureaucracy and relax labour laws to help boost Germany's economy. But her victory over Gerhard Schröder was so narrow, the incumbent chancellor refused to concede defeat, plunging the country into political chaos and denying corporate Germany the result it hoped would get the economy back on its feet.

London equities markets pushed higher yesterday, buoyed by confirmation of Deutsche Post's offer for Exel and speculation that Unilever may scrap its Anglo-Dutch structure. Exel shares added 0.5 per cent to £12.34 after Deutsche Post confirmed its offer of £3.7 billion for the British transport company. The German logistics group told reporters it expected the deal to close in December of this year.

Japanese stocks were flat on Friday, depressed by falls in technology stocks and profit taking in some areas after strong rises in the previous session. The Nikkei 225 ended down 0.2 per cent at 12,958.68. But the broader Topix rose 0.1 per cent to 1,328.84.