The MSE Equity Total Return Index closed in positive territory for the third consecutive week, having advanced by 0.818%, to close at 8,798.374 points. Turnover amounted to €1.8 million, and was spread across 17 equities, of which gainers and losers tallied at five.

GO plc announced its intention of the initial public offering of shares in BMIT Technologies plc. The company announced that subject to a general meeting approval, GO will be seeking to dispose of up to 49% of its shareholding in BMIT, formerly known as GO Data Centre Services Limited. The core business of BMIT is primarily carried out through four companies, enabling it to offer its customers a complete suite of data centre centric services, including hosting and managed services, as well as a range of cloud services. The group also specializes in the design, implementation, support and optimization of ICT solutions for the corporate sector.

The value of gross assets attributable to the group amount to €15.8 million, generating a profit after tax of €4.1 million for 2017. GO is seeking to raise up to €49 million, through the disposal of the shares. Further information will be distributed to shareholders in connection with an extraordinary general meeting convened to approve the disposal of the shares.

GO shares were negotiated across 30 deals of 58,684 shares. The telecommunications services provider's shares appreciated by €0.20 or 5.5%, and closed at a 12-year high of €3.84 – recording an 8.2% gain as at year-to-date.

Bank of Valletta plc (BOV) shares traded at a weekly high of €1.45, however closed at a six-year low of €1.40 after the bank provided an update to the market in relation to the La Valette Multi Manager Property Fund cases. On Tuesday, the board of directors announced that the bank, and its relevant subsidiaries, have filed their appeals before the court of appeal from the decisions delivered by the Arbiter for Financial Services with regards to these cases where the Arbiter found in favour of the claimants. The banking equity fell by €0.05 or 3.5%, across 79 transactions of 324,790 shares. BOV shares are down by 22.2% since the beginning of the year.

FIMBank plc shares extended their positive streak, having closed in the green for the third consecutive week. The trade finance bank's shares appreciated by 6.4%, as 22 trades of 505,368 shares were negotiated, closing $0.04 higher at $0.67 – a seven-month high.

HSBC Bank Malta plc shares advanced by €0.06 or 3.4%, as 63,042 shares changed ownership over 23 deals, to close at an eight-week high of €1.81.

Malta International Airport plc (MIA) shares oscillated between a record high of €6.30 and a weekly low of €6.10, to ultimately close the week 2.5% higher at €6.20. The local airport operator's shares were active on 43 transactions of 52,529 shares. MIA shares have soared by 31.9% since January.

MIA published its traffic results for September 2018, closing a positive peak holiday season with 706,814 passenger movements during the month. This translates to a 12.8% upturn over the same month last year, which can be attributed to a 12.5% increase in aircraft movements and a 14.1% increase in seat capacity. This brought the total figure for the quarter to a record breaking 2.2 million passenger movements. In line with previous months, the UK topped the list of MIA’s top markets, followed by Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

Malta Properties Company plc shares erased last week's 2.9% gain, having slipped by 4.8% across eight deals of 41,869 shares, closing at €0.50. Meanwhile, Malita Investments plc shares closed unchanged at €0.87 for the fourth consecutive week. The equity was negotiated over eight transactions of 118,128 shares.

In the same sector, MIDI plc shares decreased by a minimal 0.9%, as two trades of 4,260 shares were concluded, to close at €0.56. MIDI shares have registered the best performance as of year-to-date, having rallied by a significant 60%.

Trident Estates plc shares closed unchanged at €1.34, as two deals of 8,712 shares were executed.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc shares extended their winning streak, having closed in positive territory for the third consecutive week. The food and beverage supplier's shares advanced by €0.05 or 0.7%, over eight transactions of 8,210 shares, closing at €7.75. The company will distribute an interim dividend, out of tax exempt profits, of €0.0333 per share next Wednesday, to all shareholders on the register as at the close of business of September 26, 2018.

Loqus Holdings plc shares fell by €0.034 or 40.2%, on one trade of 1,424 shares, to close at €0.051.

In the IT sector,RS2 Software plc shares extended last week's 1.7% loss, having slipped by 2.5% across 12 deals of 72,409 shares, closing €0.03 lower at €1.15 – registering a 25.3% loss as at year-to-date.

The investments and insurance services provider GlobalCapital plc, recorded no change in its share price, having traded flat at €0.256, on one transaction of 1,000 shares.

International Hotel Investments plcshares traded unchanged at €0.645, as 5,000 shares changed ownership over one deal.

Main Street Complex plc shares were active on one trade of 100 shares. The shopping mall owner's shares closed unchanged at €0.655. Meanwhile, Plaza Centres plc shares traded flat at €1, across four transactions of 100,000 shares.

The retail and supermarkets owner PG plc closed unchanged at €1.40 for the second consecutive week. The equity was negotiated over four deals of 30,485 shares.

In the corporate bond market,activity was spread across 40 issues, of which 11 gained ground and 11 declined. Turnover increased to €1.7 million, from last week's €1.3 million. The 4% MIDI plc Secured € 2026 headed the list of gainers, having advanced by 1%, as five deals worth €16,763 were negotiated, to close at €104.99. Meanwhile, the 6% Medserv plc Secured & Guaranteed € Notes 2020-2023 S1 T1 3 registered the worst performance, having slipped by 2.6%, as four transactions worth €6,207 were executed, closing at €102.25.

Meanwhile, the 4.35% Hudson Malta Plc Unsecured € 2026 was the most actively traded bond, having witnessed a turnover of €246,922, to close unchanged at €105.

In the sovereign debt market,turnover amounted to €3.8 million, and was spread over 22 issues, of which 19 fell and three advanced. The long-dated 2.4% MGS 2041 (I), recorded the worst performance, having slipped by 0.9%, as one deal worth €1,561 was concluded, to close at €104.08. Meanwhile, the short-dated, 3.2% MGS 2019 (V) witnessed the highest turnover of €1.6 million, closing 0.6% lower at €102.67.