The MSE Equity Price Index climbed 0.22% to a new three-week high of 4,466.658 points, reflecting the strong rebound in the share price HSBC while only MaltaPost trended lower. Meanwhile, a further four shares closed the day unchanged while the total value of equities traded remained relatively low as €0.26 million worth of shares changed hands.
HSBC Bank Malta plc rallied by 1.7% from its four-month low of €1.72 back to the €1.75 level across 94,192 shares. The bank will kick-start the 2018 full-year reporting season on February 19, 2019.
Within the same sector, Bank of Valletta plc maintained the €1.28 level across 18,625 shares.
Also among the large companies, Malta International Airport plc (3,176 shares) and RS2 Software plc (9,400 shares) traded unchanged at €6.35 and €1.47 respectively.
Three deals totalling 3,750 shares left the equity of Simonds Farsons Cisk plc at the €8.00 level.
Meanwhile, MaltaPost plc lost 2.3% to the €1.25 level albeit on just 2,000 shares.
The RF MGS Index extended Tuesday's gains as it advanced by a further 0.07% to 1,104.210 points. German Bund yields suffered sharply on Wednesday after fresh data showed that industrial production in Europe’s powerhouse economy dropped for the second consecutive month in December 2018. A number of analysts are now expecting Germany’s economy to contract in Q1 2019.
The Malta Stock Exchange announced that it updated its website www.borzamalta.com.mt which enables users to start publishing data on best bids and best offers across equities, corporate bonds as well as Malta Government Stocks. This data is available under the ‘Trading Board’ tab as ‘Best Bids and Offers’ showing the best bid and offer available at the time per security. Users may click on each security to retrieve the five best bids and five best offers. The data is updated every 15 minutes.
Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.