The Malta Stock Exchange registered a drop of almost 10 points, or 0.3 per cent, on Friday as shares in the financial services sector finished mixed while GO plc suffered a substantial loss.

Shares in the telecommunications company GO plc, lost 8c, or more than 4.2 per cent, in the session to close at €1.82 in a single trade of 3,000 shares. The company’s shares lost nine per cent in value over the week with no news to account for the slump in the stock price.

In the financial services sector, Bank of Valletta plc shares dropped 1c, or 0.3 per cent, to close at €3.25 in eight trades of 6,936 shares. Shares in Malta’s other large retail bank, HSBC Bank Malta plc, meanwhile, finished in positive territory, gaining 1c, or less than 0.1 per cent to close at €2.871 in seven trades of 7,607 shares. Although HSBC shares have declined considerably as of late, they managed a 1.8% increase in value over the week while shares of other banks have remained steady or fell in value.

Middlesea Insurance plc managed gains in the session, closing up 2c, or 2.2 per cent, in a single trade of 400 shares. Shares in the Floriana-based insurer have rebounded sharply of late, coming off their recent lows of €0.63 witnessed in December. The shares were up 5.6 per cent on the week.

Other stocks to trade on the day but failed to register a change in their stock price were Malta International Airport plc, which witnessed low volume of 1,180 shares across four deals to close at €1.64, and Medserv plc, which ended at €4.28.

The local postal operator MaltaPost plc also had its shares traded in the session, with 25,830 shares exchanging hands across five deals, yet finished unchanged at €0.90.

Trading in the fixed income market was relatively heavy on Friday as €783,377 nominal were exchanged across 33 deals. Seven corporate bond issues and 13 government stocks were traded during the session. The 6.25% International Hotel Investments 2015-2019 series made the biggest move on the day, losing €0.88, or 0.9%, to close at €101.00, in two trades of €4,400 nominal. The 4.8% Bank of Valletta 2020 issue also moved on the day, closing down €0.25, or almost 0.3 per cent, to close at €100.75 in five deals of €190,400 nominal.

In the government stock market the 5.25% MGS 2030 I series closed down €0.50, or 0.5 per cent, to end at €102.40 in volume of €150,000 nominal across three deals.