The MSE Equity Price Index on Friday extended Thursday's drop by a further 0.11% to 4,825.491 points. Trading activity was muted as most equities were active on light volumes.
RS2 and BOV continued to dominate market activity, with RS2 reaching yet another all-time high whilst BOV slipped to its lowest level in nearly a decade.
RS2 Software plc was the most actively traded equity on Friday as it climbed by a further 2.1% to a new record high of €1.94 across 57,390 shares having a market value of €0.11 million.
Conversely, Bank of Valletta plc slid deeper into negative territory as the equity trended lower for a third successive session with a further 0.5% drop to the €1.075 level – the lowest since late September 2009 – on activity totalling 73,872 shares.
On Wednesday, S&P Global Ratings downgraded BOV’s long-term Issuer Credit Rating to “BBB-” from “BBB” and changed its outlook on the bank to “Stable” from “Negative”.
On the same day, BOV also published its interim financial results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2019 whereby it reported a pre-tax profit of €54.3 million which is considerably lower than the adjusted corresponding figure of last year.
The financial performance of the bank was mostly negatively impacted by a substantial rise in costs as well as the non-recurrence of favourable reversal of loan impairments.
With respect to the dividend, whilst not declaring an interim dividend, BOV explained that the recommendation for a final cash dividend will be revisited at the end of this financial year in line with developments taking place in the second half of the year.
All other equities traded on light volumes. In the property segment, Malta Properties Company plc surged 5.3% to a fresh 2019 high of €0.695 across 20,569 shares whilst MIDI plc stayed at the €0.65 level on 29,096 shares. MPC is due to publish its interim financial results on 12 August. MIDI’s interim financial results are scheduled for publication on 21 August.
A single deal of just 1,500 shares left the equity of HSBC Bank Malta plc at the €1.52 level. The bank is scheduled to publish its interim financial results on Monday 5 August.
Mapfre Middlesea plc remained at the €2.20 level whilst Loqus Holdings plc (€0.061) and GlobalCapital plc (€0.20) posting sharp declines.
Among the large companies, Malta International Airport plc shed 1.9% to the €7.60 level albeit on just 300 shares. Shareholders as at the close of trading on 19 August will be entitled to receive a net interim dividend of €0.03 per share.
GO plc maintained the €4.56 level across 2,500 shares. GO is due to publish its interim results on 9 August.
The RF MGS Index trended higher for the third consecutive day as it added a further 0.3% to a near three-year high of 1,160.026 points.
The significant upturn in the prices of Malta Government Stocks reflected a surge in volatility across international equity and commodity markets after US President Donald Trump imposed new trade tariffs on USD300 billion worth of Chinese imports starting as from September 2019.
As a result, demand for ‘safe haven’ assets soared with the yield of 10-year and 20-year German government bonds plunging to new all-time lows of negative 0.50% and negative 0.21% respectively.