The MSE Equity Price Index recovered by 0.5% to 4,033.363 points on Thursday as gains in BOV, HSBC, Plaza, Malita and Loqus outweighed the decline in MIA. Two other equities ended the day flat whilst trading activity remained subdued.
In the banking sector, Bank of Valletta plc inched nearly 1% higher as the equity returned to the €1.05 level across 3,000 shares. Meanwhile, HSBC Bank Malta plc erased all of yesterday’s losses as it recaptured the €1.02 level albeit across trivial volumes.
A single trade of 3,000 shares in Malita Investments plc saw the equity climb by 5.9% to an 8-week high of €0.90.
Plaza Centres plc rose by 1% to the €0.98 level across insignificant volumes. On Tuesday, Plaza announced that following the announcement made by the Minister of Health and Superintendent of Public Health on 1 May 2020, it has resumed business activity with reduced hours and subject to the restrictions imposed by the public health authorities.
Elsewhere, Loqus Holdings plc surged by 21.3% to the €0.097 level across 12,000 shares. Yesterday, Loqus announced that Loqus UK Ltd, a fully owned subsidiary of the company incorporated in England and Wales, acquired 100% of the issued share capital of Simno Software Services Limited, a software company incorporated and registered in the UK which has five employees.
The only negatively performing equity today was Malta International Airport plc which dropped by 0.4% to the €4.98 level on activity of 9,482 shares. Today, MIA revealed its traffic results for the month of April, whereby it suffered a 99.6% drop in passenger numbers when compared to the same month last year, as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic begins to materialise. This was the first full month in which air travel to and from the airport came to almost a complete standstill.
The company noted that following the ban of all inbound commercial flights towards the end of March, MIA continued to focus on its role in facilitating essential travel with a total of 73 repatriation flights to and from eight countries. Moreover, flights carrying freight registered an increase of nearly 40% over the same month in 2019 to total 186 aircraft movements.
Meanwhile, GO plc retained the €3.86 level across a single trade of 1,000 shares.
Similarly, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc traded flat at the €8.30 level across 425 shares.
The RF MGS Index registered its third decline in as many days as the index fell by a further 0.58% to a 7-week low of 1,114.157 points. Market sentiment was lifted today following fresh data which revealed a surprise rebound in Chinese exports during April.
Meanwhile, the Bank of England unanimously voted to maintain its key bank rate at a record low of 0.1% today, in line with market expectations. Policymakers also left the bond buying program at GBP 645 billion, although two members voted for a GBP 100 billion increase. The central bank revealed that it expects GDP to contract by 14% in 2020 due
to the coronavirus pandemic, whilst the inflation rate is seen falling to 0.6% and unemployment is likely to rise to 8%.