The Malta Stock Exchange closed higher on Friday after a week of anaemic trading volume, closing at 3395.617, or 1.1 per cent higher, in a session where only 20,550 shares exchanged hands across three issues.
The banking sector, which has been suffering losses in market value of late, managed to rebound yesterday, as the two large local retail banks both closed in considerably higher territory. Bank of Valletta plc, which managed the biggest gain on the day, was up by 6c8, or almost 2.3 per cent, in five trades of 5,000 shares to close at €3.069. The best outstanding bid at the end of the day stood at €3.10 for 500 shares while the best outstanding offer stood at €3.20 for 3,875 shares.
BOV’s major competitor, HSBC Bank of Malta plc, also made significant gains on the day, rising up 6c, or 2.1 per cent, in moderate volume of 14,150 shares across 13 trades.
The other equity to trade in the session was Medserv plc, whose shares closed unchanged at €4.25 in a single trade of 1,400 shares.
In a week of considerably heavy volume, the corporate bond market resumed normal trading on Friday as an approximate €394,414 nominal was transacted across 15 trades on six bonds. After several sessions of seeing the 8.00% Bank of Valletta 2010 issue trade the heaviest volumes in the market, Friday’s most traded issue was the 7.00% GAP Developments 2011-2013. The issue traded in three deals of €262,500 nominal and closed unchanged at €94.50. In terms of price movement, the 6.25% International Hotel Investments 2015-2019 made a positive showing, closing up €1.89, or 1.9 per cent, on volume of €45,000 nominal in four deals.
Trading in the government stock market was heavy as €2,566,341 nominal were exchanged across 22 deals, in a session where all but one of the 11 issues traded on the day finished lower. The 4.60% MGS 2020 II series was the big mover in the session, closing up €0.84, or 0.8 per cent, to end at €104.16 in a single trade of €5,000 nominal. Four government stocks traded in extraordinary volume, including the 4.8% MGS 2016 II and 6.6% MGS 2019 I issues, which traded €750,000 nominal each. The 5.9% MGS 2015 II issue traded €650,00 nominal in a single deal closing at €113.94, down €0.57, while the 5.25% MGS 2030 I issue traded €318,000 nominal in 10 trades to end the session unchanged at €104.00.