MSE Weekly Round-Up Report: 21st – 25th May 2007

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Simonds Farsons Cisk moves 5.9% higher this week

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The Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) Index started the week on a positive note registering an increase in Monday’s session. This was however followed by four consecutive negative sessions with the Index edging 0.17% lower on a week-on-week basis. Twelve equities were active in all, three of which registered gains in their share price while five posted losses on a weekly basis. The MSE Index closed just 9 points lower at 4,847.24.

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The total volume traded on the regular equity market stood at 316,360 for a total value of Lm407,842, these being attained over 184 deals. On the other hand, within the local bond market, eleven corporate bonds and nineteen Malta Government Stocks (MGS) were traded for a total turnover over Lm8.67 million. As occurred last week, a single transaction worth over Lm7 million was executed in the 5.75% MGS, maturing in 2010. In addition, three transactions were executed in three different Treasury Bills for a value close to Lm47,000.

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The top equity performer of the week was Simonds Farsons Cisk followed by International Hotel Investments. The former equity gained 5.88% in a week which saw 16,136 shares change hands across 9 transactions over two sessions. On Tuesday the equity had 2 transactions executed at the previous week’s closing price, however it was Friday’s session which saw the equity climb 5c to close at the Lm0.90 level.

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Activity in International Hotel Investments (IHI) was strong during the week, with 112,072 shares being traded across 11 transactions. The equity in fact gained 3.57% to close at the level of EUR1.13 following gains on Monday (EUR0.009), Tuesday (EUR0.025) and Wednesday’s (EUR0.005) sessions.

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A marginal weekly increase of 0.46% in FIMBank’s share price was also recorded, on a volume of 5,800 shares across 2 deals. The equity closed the week at US$1.949.

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Within the banking industry, Lombard Bank as well as Bank of Valletta (BOV) both suffered declines in their share price. In fact, Lombard was the worst equity performer of the week, slumping by 3.54% to close 17c lower at Lm4.63. However, one also notes that this was attained over a single deal of 1,650 shares. BOV registered a 2c drop on a week-on-week basis to close at Lm3.62. This 0.55% decline was attained after having nearly 11,700 shares negotiated across 28 transactions.

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Within the same sector, HSBC Bank Malta (HSBC) closed the week unchanged at Lm1.90. A total of 81 deals were recorded in the equity with 90,375 shares changing hands. The high and low prices traded were Lm1.92 and Lm1.90 respectively.

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Trading in the other local large cap, Maltacom, was relatively strong. The equity had over 58,000 shares traded across 31 transactions as its share price dropped by 2.03% and closed at Lm1.45. The equity lost 3c over Monday and Tuesday’s sessions, to recoup 1c on Wednesday, before shedding 0c5 in each of the two remaining sessions.

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Middlesea Insurance was amongst the active equities this week, even though activity was thin with just 1,000 shares changing hands over 4 deals. The equity edged marginally lower by 0.11% to close the week-off at Lm1.898. In addition, Datatrak holdings had 1,500 shares executed over two transactions at Lm0.26 in Monday’s session, this representing a 3.7% decline on a weekly basis.

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The rest of the active equities during the week, all closed unchanged on a week-on-week basis. Malta International Airport (MIA) had 7,330 shares traded across 9 transactions to close at Lm1.38, while Medserv had over 10,000 shares traded in the last sessions of the week, to close stable at Lm1.60. Moreover, 2 transactions were executed in GlobalCapital with a mere 300 shares changing hands at Lm1.80.

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During the week, Medserv, IHI, Maltacom and MIA all had their Interim Director’s Statement issued, pursuant to Malta Financial Services Authority Rules 9.51 and 9.53. In these statements the companies review their performance for the period of 1st January 2007, until the date of the announcement.

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This article which was compiled by Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Limited (JMFS) does not intend to give investment advice and the contents therein should not be construed as such. JMFS is licensed to conduct investment services by the MFSA. The directors or related parties, including the company, and their clients are likely to have an interest in securities mentioned in this article. For further information please contact JFMS at 67/3 South Street Valletta or on tel:  21224410 or email [email protected]