The Malta Stock Exchange was down another five points, or almost 0.2 per cent, on Friday, ending the week in which the MSE suffered five consecutive sessions of losses. The index closed the session at 3449.320

GO plc suffered the day’s biggest losses, dropping 4c, or 2.0 per cent, to close at €2.01 in three trades of 3,400 shares. GO shares have been steadily declining ever since reaching a recent high of €2.30 in February of 2010.

Shares in the two major local banks continued to diverge on Friday as HSBC Bank Malta plc lost another 1c, or 0.3 per cent, to close at €2.93 in 16 trades of 18,750 shares. The bank’s shares were down 4c during much of the session but managed to claw its way back as investors stepped in to purchase the stock at depressed values. Meanwhile Bank of Valletta plc, gained another 1c5, or 0.5 per cent, to close at €3.30 in low volume of 2,500 shares across four deals.

In the tourism Industry, Malta International Airport was up marginally by 0c5, or 0.3 per cent, to close at €1.58 in eight trades of 10,900 shares. On Thursday the airport operator stated that passenger movements for the month of May had risen 19.3 per cent when compared with the same month in 2009. Passenger movements for the first five months of 2010 meanwhile, when compared with the same period last year, were up 7.7 per cent, despite the traffic disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcano earlier in the year. On the other hand International Hotel Investments plc was down by 0c2, or 0.2 per cent to end the session at €0.82.

The remaining stock to trade on the day was Middlesea Insurance plc, which closed unchanged at €0.86 in two trades of 6,000 shares.

Trading in the fixed income market continued to be light on Thursday as €141,140 nominal were exchanged across 23 deals as nine corporate bond issues and two government stocks were traded during the session. The 6% Gasan Finance Company plc 2014-2016 series made the biggest move on the day, losing €3.00, or 2.9 per cent, to close at par, or €100.00 in two trades of €5,400 nominal.

In the government stock market the 5.5% MGS 2023 I series witnessed the biggest move, closing down €0.21, or 0.2 per cent to end at €111.59 in two trades of €18,635 nominal. The only other government stock to trade on the day was the 6.35% MGS 2013 II series, which closed €112.62, down €0.03 or less than 0.1 per cent.