Local Weekly Round Up – 7th-15th September 2006
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The MSE Index closed 0.67% lower this week to end at 5,120.61 points. Eleven equities traded, four of which were gainers, four losers while the other three remained stable. HSBC closed the week 1.81% lower at Lm2.11 while Maltacom lost 1.12% to close at Lm1.76. The other two losers were Global Capital and FIMBank decreasing by 4.29% and 0.54% respectively. On the other hand, Simonds Farsons Cisk was the week’s best performer increasing by 5.71% to close at Lm0.74 while Lombard ended the week positively, up by a good 3.54%. MIA share price also increased even though by a mere 1.43%. Middlesea Insurance was another positive performer this week although it rose by 0.56%. The remaining equities share prices, BOV, Suncrest, IHI , Plaza and Datatrak, all remained unchanged.
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187 deals were performed this week for a total value traded of Lm374,904.11 with 212,787 shares changing hands. BOV accounted for 35.93% of the total value traded while HSBC and Maltacom, the next two most traded equities with regards to value, accounted for 25.85% and 16.21% respectively.
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BOV remained fairly stable during the week. In the first two sessions the price remained fixed and increased by 0c1 on Wednesday, after which it lost this minor gain in today’s session to close once again at Lm3.65, and register no change on a week-on-week basis.
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HSBC closed the week 1.81% lower. It increased by 0c1 on Tuesday and fell again by the same amount in the following session to lose 3c9 over the last two sessions and close at Lm2.11.
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Maltacom also lost 1.12% even though it had gained 7c in the first two sessions of the week. In the last three sessions it shed 9c most probably also influenced by the comments of the Group’s new CEO comments published on Thursday’s newspapers. Moreover today, the Board of Directors of Maltacom p.l.c. considered and approved the Group’s Interim Accounts for the period 1st January 2006 to 30th June 2006. As can be seen from the statements, the profit before tax fell by approximately 18.08% when compared to the same period last year. In addition, the Board of Directors also approved the payment of an ordinary interim dividend of Lm0.01c5 per share net of tax, which is lower than the dividend declared a year ago (Lm0.02 per share net of tax).
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Lombard registered low activity this week accounting for only 2.62% of the total value traded on this week’s stock exchange. Notwithstanding this the equity gained 3.54% over three deals of only 2,101 shares.
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MIA also closed 1.43% higher following a gain of 1c5 in the last session of the week.
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IHI registered no changes this week. Interesting to note is the announcement that 2,500,000 IHI shares were acquired by HSBC No-Load Funds SICAV p.l.c., at Euro 1 each. This represents a further step in the Company’s strategy to fund further growth and development.
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