MSE negative as nine equities decline
MSE Trading Report for week ending July 15, 2016
The Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) Index declined by a further 1.55 per cent, to close at 4,497.349 points. Turnover amounted to €2.25m spread across 16 equities of which nine fell, six gained ground and Lombard Bank Malta plc (Lombard) closed unchanged.
In fact, Lombard shares traded unchanged at €2.20on six trades of 48,132 shares. Meanwhile, FIMBank plc sharesextended their recent winning streak, having advanced by one per cent across 22 trades of 468,025 shares, closing at a fresh seven-year high of $0.98.
On Tuesday, the company announced that the Board of Directors will meet on August 9, 2016 to approve the consolidated financial statements for the half-year ended June 30, 2016 and to consider the payment of an interim dividend.
HSBC Bank Malta plc shares edged 0.6 per cent higher as seven transactions of 11,442 shares were struck, to close at €1.59. Conversely, Bank of Valletta plc shares slipped by 0.9 per cent across 48 transactions of 142,803 shares, closing at €2.21.
Malta International Airport plc (MIA) shares touched a weekly high of €4.24 on Tuesday to then drop to €4.15, at which price it closed the week, thus registering a 2.4 per cent decline. The local airport operator’s shares were active on 10 trades of 7,093 shares. On Wednesday, MIA released its traffic results for the six months ending June 30, 2016. The company reported an increase of 9.8 per cent in passenger movements when compared to the first half of 2015, recorded in both peak and shoulder months. The increase in passenger movements in the month of June, was attributed to an increase in seat capacity and airlines’ efficiency in filling up the available seats. The leading market remains the United Kingdom, followed by Italy and Germany. However, the Turkish and Swiss markets have recorded the largest growth, due to more frequent flights from MIA. Mr. Alan Borg, CEO announced an upward revision of the original forecasted passenger movements for the year to a total of 4.97 million for 2016.
Furthermore, after close of trading on Friday, MIA announced that the Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on August 17, 2016 to approve the Company’s Interim Financial Statements for the six months ended June 30, 2016 and to consider the payment of an interim dividend.
In the I.T. sector, 6PM Holdings plc shares stumbled by £0.05 or 5.3 per cent across two trades of 4,298 shares, closing at £0.90. On a similar note, RS2 Software plc shares decreased by 0.9 per cent over the highest turnover for the week of 28 deals of 542,846 shares, to close at €2.129.
Meanwhile, Loqus Holdings plc shares appreciated by 3.1 per cent as 7,461 shares changed ownership over a single transaction, closing at €0.135.
Elsewhere, the share price of Mapfre Middlesea plc plunged by 16.3 per cent to €2.01 on a single deal of 1,000 shares.
A negative performance was also witnessed in International Hotel Investments plc as seven deals of 13,515 shares dragged its share price 2.7 per cent lower to €0.68.
Another significant drop was noted in the share price of MaltaPost plc having closed at its weekly high of €1.90 after touching a low of €1.80 intra-week. The equity was active over five deals of 54,221 shares.
In the property sector, the share price of MIDI plc dropped by 2.63 per cent to €0.37 as 20,100 shares changed hands. Meanwhile, a single deal of 15,000 shares in Malita Investments plc executed at €0.88, led to a 1.1 per cent decline. The only gainer in this sector was Malta Properties Company plc managing a modest 0.2 per cent gain to end the week at €0.508 on five deals of 33,970 shares.
On a positive note, Medserv plc shares gained 1.1 per cent to close at €1.84 as 8,926 shares were traded. During the week, the company announced that the board of directors is scheduled to meet on August 26, 2016 to approve the unaudited half-yearly report of the Company for the six months ended June 30, 2016.
Meanwhile, GO plc shares edged 0.35 per cent higher closing at €2.86 on a turnover worth €30k.
In the corporate bonds market turnover dropped from €1.6m to €766k spread across thirty-five issues – 16 issues registered a decline, seven gained ground and twelve closed unchanged.
In the sovereign debt market, a total of 23 stocks were traded as turnover soared from €7.3m to €13.3m. A negative trend was noted as 20 issues declined, only two closed higher and one closed flat. The most active issue was the 4.1% MGS 2034 (I) with a turnover of €4.8m closing at €133.58.