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Local Weekly Round Up: 10th – 17th November 2006

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The MSE Index registers a 1.12% loss on a week-on-week basis to close 55.956 points lower at 4,929.914. None of the equities on the stock exchange post any gains on a weekly basis. The value traded in the equity market amounted to Lm551,192, in the corporate bond market Lm167,272 while in Government bonds Lm1,048,582. Eleven equities were traded this week with the most active being HSBC, BOV, Maltacom and IHI, with regards to value.

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BOV declined by 1.17% on a week-on-week basis to close at Lm3.637; a 4c3 drop. The equity immediately started the week off with a 3c decline and maintained its price during the following two sessions at Lm3.65. On Thursday it however lost another 1c and dropped another 0c3 on Friday’s session. A total number of 45 trades were recorded in the equity, 18% of the total number of trades in the equity market this week.

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HSBC on the other hand did not register any changes to its share price on a weekly basis. It was the most traded equity with regards to value and volume as it accounted for 51% of the total number of trades on the exchange during the week. The share price remained stable throughout the whole week and closed at Lm2.01 even though at a point on Thursday it traded at Lm2.015. The equities weekly low on the other hand was Lm2.009.

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Maltacom was the worst performer of the week as it declined by 5.38%. It was active in all five sessions and accounted for 15% of the entire trades performed in the week. The equity dropped 5c on Monday to keep on trading at Lm1.51 on Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday, the equity shed another 1c to close at Lm1.50, the lowest level in 2006. This price is even lower than that at which Tecom Investments Ltd had bought 60% of the Government of Malta’s shareholding in Maltacom plc, last May. In the last session of the week its share price lost 2c4 equivalent to a 1.60% drop from the previous session, to close at Lm1.476. The high and low prices traded at were Lm1.542 and Lm1.476.

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Middlesea Insurance saw its share price drop by 4.55% on a weekly basis as it lost 10c in Wednesday’s session to close at Lm2.10. Following this, it only registered another two trades on Friday to remain and end the week at Lm2.10. The total volume traded over the week amounted to 7,725 shares for a turnover of Lm16,355.

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Medserv shed 0c1 to close at Lm1.399 over two deals on Tuesday, representing a marginal decline of 0.07% on a weekly basis. No other trades were recorded in the equity in the following sessions. During the week the Company formally announced it rebutted the allegations made in a letter by a certain Dr Coenen, published in the Edition of Malta Today on Sunday 12th November 2006, as being completely unfounded, speculative and malicious. It also declared that it is currently seeking the appropriate legal advice in order to take legal action against both the author of the letter as well as the newspaper publishing the same article. Please click here to reading the detailed official announcement.

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Malta International Airport was also amongst the negative performers this week as it fell by 1.11%. Activity was very low in this equity during the week as it only registered two trades with the volume amounting to 875. It lost 1c on Monday and shed another 0c5 on Tuesday. In the following three sessions the equity was not active thus closed the week at Lm1.335.

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Simonds Farsons Cisk ended the week in negative territory as it dropped 1c on Wednesday over a single trade of 3,000 shares, to close at Lm0.80. In Friday’s session it traded another 3,000 shares across two deals both at the price of Lm0.80. This drop is equivalent to a 1.23% decline in its share price on a weekly basis.

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GlobalCapital was another weekly loser as it shed 0.43%. It traded 1,500 shares across five deals on Wednesday to lose 1c and close lower at Lm2.29. No other trades in the equity were recorded during the week.

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Lombard was low on activity as just two trades were performed in the equity. It only traded in the first two sessions to remain stable (Lm4.80) on a week-on-week basis.

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IHI remained stable on a weekly basis. Activity in the equity was relatively high on Monday’s session as it traded 38,850 shares across eleven deals. The equity price however closed unchanged at Eur1.00 even though it also traded a low of Eur0.99 in that same session. IHI was active again on Tuesday however all four trades were done at Eur1.00 to remain unchanged. No trades were recorded on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Friday morning IHI announced that it has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, subject to the contract and satisfactory documentation, with each of Corinthia Palace Hotel Company Limited of Malta, and Istithmar Hotels FZE, a global hotel investment firm based in Dubai Arab Emirates. Please click here to view what the principal terms of the Memorandum of Understanding have stipulated.

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Plaza registered a single trade of 2,400 shares at Lm0.68 to remain unchanged on a weekly basis while the following, FIMBank, Suncrest, San Tumas and Datatrak were all inactive this week.

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With regards to Government stocks, the Treasury is expected to redeem the Lm10 million 7% MGS 2006 on 19 November 2006.

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