Local Weekly Roundup 20 – 24 February 2006

During this period the MSE share index registered a significant drop of 7.46% closing the week at a level of 5812.395.  As opposed to last week’s positive performance, Bank of Valletta share price suffered the largest drop as its price fell by 10.17% over a span of a week.  HSBC equity, which started trading ex-div as from Wednesday, was the most actively traded as its total turnover amounted to 480,401 shares changing hands over 1,722 deals.  This equity opened trading on Monday at Lm10.87c and closed on Friday at Lm9.80c resulting in a negative change of 9.89%.  No gains were registered for Maltacom shares this week and its price fell by 7.06%.  MIA share price recorded a negative overall change of 4.516%.  The best performer for this week was FIM bank as following its recent announcements its share price rose by 13.12% closing the week at a historical high of $2.50c.  GFSG equity also performed well as it incurred a gain of 7%.   Other registered gains this week were Lombard bank and Middlesea Insurance which shares rose by 3.39% and 5.56% respectively.