The MSE Equity Price Index advanced by 0.56% to 3,888.989 points on Monday as the gains in five equities outweighed the declines in Lombard and MaltaPost. Meanwhile, five other equities remained unchanged as overall trading activity dropped to €0.07 million.
A single trade of 4,300 shares lifted the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc by 2.5% to the €0.82 level.
Also in the retail banking sector, Bank of Valletta plc climbed 0.6% to the €0.885 level on five deals totalling 13,888 shares.
Malta International Airport plc gained 1.7% to the €6.10 level on trivial volumes. Last week, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) placed Malta back on EU’s travel green list along with a number of other EU countries.
The ordinary shares of RS2 Software plc closed 1.7% higher at the €1.75 level across four trades totalling 11,000 shares.
In the technology sector, BMIT Technologies plc inched 0.4% higher to the €0.492 level on volumes of 10,000 shares.
Lombard Bank Malta plc dropped by 0.5% to the €1.93 level on a single deal of 6,213 shares.
Lombard’s postal service subsidiary – MaltaPost plc – dropped 3.9% to the €1.23 level as 800 shares changed hands.
Malita Investments plc stayed at the €0.86 level on two trades totalling 6,500 shares.
Also in the property sector, Malta Properties Company plc remained at the €0.57 on a single deal of 303 shares. Last week, Malta Properties announced that it entered into an agreement for the sale of the Birkirkara Old Exchange for €8 million. The agreement is valid for a period of twelve months.
A single deal of 303 shares left GO plc at the €3.30 level.
Similarly, PG plc remained at its all-time high of €2.50 on two trades totalling 4,000 shares. PG will be holding its annual general meeting on Thursday 21 October 2021.
Mapfre Middlesea plc closed at the €2.12 level on negligible volumes.
The RF MGS Index recovered from last Friday’s losses with an uplift of 0.07% to 1,084.641 points. The World Trade Organisation upgraded its estimates for global trade growth in 2021 to 10.8% from its earlier estimate of 8%, thus projecting the fastest expansion of global trade since 2010. Trade growth is projected at 4.7% for 2022 approaching its pre-pandemic long-term trend. Elsewhere, oil prices reached over 3-year highs amid uncertainty over production increases by OPEC+ countries. Similarly, natural gas prices remained at multi-year high as the European inventories are at their lowest level in the last decade.