Financial News

Sustained gains in Maltacom and Malta International Airport shares was offset by losses in HSBC and Bank of Valletta during yesterday's trading session at the Malta Stock Exchange.

Malta International Airport was the day's top gainer, chalking up an impressive 2.2 per cent gain on a total turnover of 3,592 shares. Activity was spread across eight trades with the closing price settling at the highest level of the day at Lm1.33c.

Continued demand for Maltacom saw Wednesday's closing price improve by a further 2c to close at Lm1.42c. During the session, offers were cautiously placed slightly above the Lm1.40c level, leaving eager bidders with no option but to push their price higher by 1.4 per cent. Banking stocks suffered, as investors booked profits ahead of HSBC's half yearly results and interim dividend declaration due out today. A total of 1,450 shares of HSBC Bank Malta were sold across three transactions, bringing the price down to Lm5.20c. Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta shares closed just slightly below the psychologically important level of Lm5 on a total traded volume of 5,550 shares.

International Hotel Investments shares declined marginally to close at €0.75 as a few shares shy of 12,000 were sold in rapid succession soon after the opening, while Simonds Farsons Cisk continued to find support at the Lm0.85c level.

European gains pared after Nokia results

Overnight in New York, shares staged a strong recovery with the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 0.4 per cent at 10,689.1 while the S&P 500 ended 0.5 per cent higher at 1,235.2 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.7 per cent at 2,188.6.

London's equities market moved higher by the end of morning trade yesterday with the retail sector in focus after several trading updates and stronger than expected data on high street spending. The FTSE 100 rose 0.2 per cent to 5,224.3 while the mid-cap FTSE 250 traded 0.5 per cent higher at 7,475.0 by 1100 midday.

European stocks were higher yesterday after better-than-expected results from Ericsson and Essilor but earlier gains were pared after Nokia's second-quarter numbers failed to impress. By midday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.2 per cent to 1,165.01, halving the gains seen before Nokia's results.

Frankfurt's Xetra Dax added 0.8 per cent to 4,821.58, while in Paris, the CAC-40 climbed 0.4 per cent to 4,436.61.

The Japanese stock market closed virtually unchanged yesterday as investors sold shares in sectors which had performed well recently, such as steel. The Nikkei 225 ended trading down by less than 0.1 per cent at 11,786.73, after closing on Wednesday at a 14-week high. Topix lost 0.1 per cent yesterday to end the day at 1,194.76.

Strong export figures released by the Japanese government boosted some export stocks but at the expense of domestically-focused sectors.