The MSE Equity Price Index rose for the fourth consecutive day as it climbed by 0.26% to 4,845.434 points.
The gains in BOV, Medserv and Malita outweighed the declines in GO, Mapfre and MPC as nine other equities closed the day unchanged. Trading activity across the equity market improved again as €0.41 million worth of shares traded.
Medserv plc reached a 26-month high today of €1.30 (+8.3%) across heightened activity of 64,000 shares. Last week the company’s two major shareholders, namely Anthony S. Diacono and Malampaya Investments Limited, proceeded to select a preferred bidder. In this respect, the two major shareholders will enter into negotiations with the preferred bidder for the purpose of concluding a binding offer.
Bank of Valletta plc rebounded from Wednesday’s decline as it rose by 1.8% to the €1.12 level albeit across a single trade of just 1,780 shares.
Also among today’s positively performing equities, Malita Investments plc jumped 2.2% to the €0.925 level across 46,997 shares.
Meanwhile, GO plc added to Wednesday's decline as the equity fell a further 0.5% to the €4.28 level across 14,700 shares.
Malta Properties Company plc also ended the day lower as it fell by 1.5% to the €0.65 level across 50,000 shares.
Similarly, Mapfre Middlesea plc eased by 0.9% back to the €2.18 level across 4,600 shares.
Among the large companies, HSBC Bank Malta plc and International Hotel Investments plc closed the day flat at €1.30 and €0.85 respectively, albeit on light trading activity.
In the IT services segment, BMIT Technologies plc ended the day unchanged at the €0.52 level across a single trade of 38,460 shares, while RS2 Software plc remained flat as it retained the €2.04 level across 5,000 shares.
Malta International Airport plc remained unchanged at the €7.30 level as 10,100 shares changed hands. On Wednesday the company published an Interim Directors’ Statement which covered the first nine months of the year. The results showed that the company’s financial performance was superior to the corresponding period last year as revenues grew by 9.2%, operating profits rose by 11.5% and profit after tax increased by 8%.
Furthermore, MIA explained that it is on course to surpass the financial targets it had set out at the start of the year. On 17 January 2019, the company had forecasted a 5.8% increase in passenger numbers to a new record of 7.2 million, whilst target revenues and net profit amounted to €96 million and €31 million respectively.
In the banking sector, FIMBank plc retained the USD 0.64 level across 61,135 shares.
Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ended the day flat at the €11.50 level on activity totalling 1,668 shares.
A single deal of 1,900 shares saw the equity of MaltaPost plc maintain the €1.25 level.
Likewise, Santumas Shareholdings plc closed unchanged across 9,531 shares.
The RF MGS Index added 0.12% to 1,160.928 points in line with the decline in most eurozone bond yields at the start of the day. However, euro bond yields subsequently surged to 4-month highs as news emerged that the US and China agreed to roll back tariffs in phases which raised overall investor sentiment.