MSE

Trading Report for week ending January 27, 2012

High

demand for Malta Government Stocks

The fourth week of the month of

January saw the Malta Stock Exchange Index (MSE) widening its week-on-week

losses. Yesterday, the local equity Index closed at 3,065.923 points hence

lower by 0.5 per cent on the week. Gains in the Banking sector equities were

not enough to offset losses by two highly capitalised equities. Furthermore, investors’

attention was this week focused on the fixed-income market.

In the Corporate Bonds Market, EUR1.1m was

traded over 27 issues. Corporate yields remained mixed as 10 issues gained,

another 10 lost ground while the remaining seven closed flat. The 6.25% IHI maturing between 2015 and 2019 and the 6.25%

Mediterranean Bank 2015 were the hardest hit. This week’s loss for the

latter was 2.4 per cent while the IHI bond shed almost 3 per cent. The 5.9% HBSC Bank Malta 2018 gained

further ground with a 1.1 per cent gain to end the week at EUR105.65.

In the Government Bonds Market turnover

reached a massive EUR28.7m traded across 441 transactions. Nearly one-third of

this week’s trading took place in the 4.3%

MGS 2016 followed by the recent issue of the 5.2% MGS 2031. Yesterday the Treasury announced the prices of the

new Government Stock issues, which will be offered to the public early next

week. In fact two new tranches of the 4.25%

MGS 2017 and the 5.2% MGS 2031

will be offered at a price of EUR103.75 and EUR101.75 respectively. The third

issue, which is a ten-year bond at coupon of 4.3% and maturing in 2022, and will

be offered at EUR100.

Following last

week’s decline, Bank of Valletta plc

(BOV) shares headed the list of gainers this week with a 1.35 per cent move

to the upside. The Bank closed the week at EUR2.25 after some intra-week

volatility as the equity traded between a weekly low of EUR2.19 and a high of EUR2.26.

This week the equity was the second most liquid, with volume remaining constant

in the opening three sessions while it declined thereafter. Over 87,000 shares

were dealt across 89 deals. Since the beginning of the year, the equity

returned 1.3 per cent

HSBC Bank Malta plc edged

minimally higher as the equity closed at EUR2.56, up by a mere 0.4 per cent.

The equity failed to gain investors’ assurance as volume traded remained weak.

A total of 21,466 shares were traded over 17 transactions.

Meanwhile one deal

of 1,500 shares in Lombard Bank plc

pushed the equity higher by 0.8 per cent or EUR0.02. On the contrary,  FIMBank

plc lost a meagre 0.26 per cent as the equity was traded at $0.768 during

Monday’s session. Trading volume in the equity improved significantly to over

174,000 shares.

The other financial

to close lower was Middlesea Insurance

plc, which was also the overall worst performer, as the share price lost a

hefty 10 per cent. However, trading volume was significantly thin as nearly

1,400 shares changed hands over five deals. The equity lost ground mid-week on

two deals of 100 shares while it traded flat thereafter.

Malta International Airport plc

shares closed minimally lower after an unusually volatile week. In fact, the

equity traded between a weekly high of EUR1.75 and a low of EUR1.70 while it

finished yesterday’s session at EUR1.74, down by 0.57 per cent on the week.

Notwithstanding this decline, the airport operator is still up by 3 per cent on

the year. This week the equity was amongst the most sought after equities as

57,000 shares changed hands across 20 deals.

Investors carried

on battering GO plc shares as the

equity shed 5.3 per cent or EUR0.05 as eight deals of 14,600 shares were

executed. Trading in the equity this week was pathetic with the equity being

active only across two trading sessions. GO kicked off the week with a meagre

decline of 0.5 per cent, while it succumbed to selling pressure on Wednesday on

low volumes.

The negative

performance by International Hotel

Investments plc shares proved to be a major drag on the local market, given

the company’s high capitalisation on the MSE. Two deals of almost 9,000 shares

pushed the equity lower by 2.4 per cent to EUR0.82.

Five thin trades in

MaltaPost plc improved the equity’s

price by 1 per cent as the postal operator returned to the EUR1 level. Trading

volume was not encouraging as 2,000 shares worth slightly less than EUR2,000

were traded.

In the IT sector, RS2 Software plc closed flat at EUR0.60

on significant trading volume. A total of 70,300 RS2 shares were dealt across

nine transactions. Meanwhile, Simonds

Farsons Cisk plc shares managed to close flat at EUR1.80 after having

traded at a weekly low of EUR1.79.

This article which was compiled by Atlas

JMFS Investment Services Limited, does not intend to give investment advice and

the contents therein should not be construed as such. Atlas JMFS is licensed to

conduct investment services by the MFSA and is a Member Firm of the Malta Stock

Exchange. 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 contact Atlas JMFS at 67, Level 3, South Street, Valletta,

or on Tel: 21224410, or email [email protected]