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The local equity market experienced one of its busiest weeks in recent years as volumes in general soured to impressive levels. Investors bought heavily in major equities pushing the Malta Stock Exchange to its record high of 5,296 points, up by 2.3 per cent over the previous week.
Aggregate volume on the equity market reached 1.4 million shares which were spread across 1,528 deals.
Bank of Valletta got the lion’s share of the week’s activity, as an aggregate volume in excess of half a million shares were negotiated over 1,003 deals. The share price finally ended the week in negative territory, down by 1.1 per cent compared to the previous week. Initial demand pushed the price to an all time high of Lm4.12c, but once supply started to crop up, the share retreated slightly to end the week at Lm3.95c.
As it turned out, investors started to take profits out of the recent rally in BOV shares, only to shift them to the other major bank, HSBC Bank Malta, in anticipation of positive full years, expected to be announced in the next few weeks. The share price made a decisive step forward, advancing by 5.3 per cent to its all time high of Lm8.77c.
Also in the banking sector there were solid gains registered by Lombard Bank which rallied by 8.7 per cent to recover most of the recent losses. Elsewhere shares of FIMBank closed in the red, down by 1 per cent to US$2.00c on significant volumes.
Also particularly active were shares of Maltacom and Malta International Airport, where volumes reached 201,729 shares and 169,830 shares, respectively. The former ended the week at a 69-month high of Lm1.95c on recent news about the outcome of the bidding process.
In the remaining trades for the week, noteworthy were the gains registered by Datatrak Holdings and International Hotel Investments which gained in excess of 6 per cent, while shares of Simonds Farsons Cisk dipped further to Lm0.84c.
This article was compiled by BOV Stockbrokers Ltd, a member of the BOV Group. BOVSL’s offices are situated at BOV Centre, Cannon Road, Santa Venera HMR 07. You can also contact BOVSL by email at bovsl@bov.com, by phoning on 2275 1732 or else visit he website at www.bovsl.com
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