Financial News

Strong volumes in the largest listed equities and significant price increases in the latest issues of government stock, were the main themes during the mid-week session, on the Malta Stock Exchange.

Quite surprisingly, trading in equities continued to be well sustained for this time of the year, with aggregate volumes in the three big caps reaching almost 100,000 shares. HSBC Bank Malta shares were the most in demand, with a total of 39,067 shares shifting hands during the session. The share price was however little moved, with the equity closing up by 0c1, to Lm5.501.

A similar trading pattern was experienced in the other major bank, where shares of Bank of Valletta eaked up by a mere 0c5, to close above the Lm5 for the first time in the past five sessions.

Elsewhere shares of Maltacom continued to trade within a well-defined range in anticipation of the sale of the government's 60 per cent stake in the Company. The equity lost one cent during yesterday's session when 34,350 shares changed hands across 13 deals.

The only other equity trading during the session was Datatrak Holdings which continued to recover from early year losses, this time advancing by over four per cent to Lm0.25. This brings the total gain in the past two sessions to almost 22 per cent.

On the fixed income market, both issues of the five per cent MGS 2021 touched an all time high of Lm105, as demand remained extremely supportive.

The Malta Stock Exchange remained practically flat at 3,552 points.

Wall Street stumbles as earnings disappoint

European equity markets were lower yesterday after Wall Street stock indicators registered their biggest one-day losses since April as Wal-Mart, the world's biggest retailer reduced full-year earnings guidance and said that higher petrol prices were driving down consumer spending. This left the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.1 per cent lower at 10,513.45, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 1.4 per cent to 2,137.06.

Around European markets, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was down 0.3 per cent to 1,184.61, while Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was down 0.5 per cent to 4,857.23. In Paris, the CAC-40 was off 0.5 per cent to 4,422.6 and London's FTSE 100 was 0.5 per cent lower at 5,297. Oil prices, in spite of the warning from Wal-Mart, remained above the $66 a barrel level; just a dollar off the record-high hit on Friday.

Nervousness about high oil prices had little effect on Japan's two leading stock indices as they fell a touch from Tuesday's closing highs. But analysts said Tuesday's news of a strong rise in US consumer prices - driven by higher gasoline prices - was beginning to worry investors in Japanese stocks. Previously, they had in general downplayed the effect of oil prices on the Japanese economy, arguing that Japanese energy use per unit of output is low by rich country standards, and that local distributors of oil products found it harder to pass on higher costs to consumers. The Nikkei 225 closed 0.3 per cent lower at 12,273.12, while the Topix ended the day 0.2 per cent down at 1,250.10.