The Malta Stock Exchange climbed considerably higher on Friday, gaining 49 points, or 1.4 per cent, to close at the 3519.694 level as International Hotel Investments plc (IHI) shares drove the market to a week high.

IHI shares yesterday gained 7c1, or 8.9 per cent, in heavy volume of 76,053 shares across 16 deals, to close at €0.87.

The other hotelier to trade on the day was Island Hotels Group Holdings plc, which was up marginally, gaining 0c1, or 0.1 per cent, to close at €1.00, also in heavy volume of 69,000 shares across 10 trades.

The other strong performer in the day was MaltaPost plc, which gained 3c1, or almost 3.8 per cent, to close at €0.85 in a single trade of 2,104 shares.

Meanwhile, the banking sector remained relatively muted on the day as only 11 trades took place across the bank stocks. Bank of Valletta plc shares climbed marginally, gaining 0c1, or less than 0.1 per cent, to close at €3.27, to round out a week where it gained almost 1.0 per cent in market capitalisation. Later in the day, the bank was expected to publish the result of its stress test which forms part of an EU-wide exercise to determine the resilience of the financial system to various adverse market conditions.

HSBC Bank Malta plc, which witnessed a week of sluggish trading volume for its shares, closed unchanged at €2.99 in two trades of 1,644 shares.

Also finishing unchanged on Friday was Malta International Airport plc which saw 7,183 of its shares exchange hands, across five trades, to close at €1.60.

Following several sessions of heavy volume, trading in the corporate bond market fell back to light volumes on Friday as €130,300 nominal were exchanged in 19 deals across eight bonds. The 7.00% GAP Developments 2011-2013 bond made the biggest move in the session, losing €1.00, or 1.0 per cent, to close at €96.00 in six deals of €49,500 nominal.

Trading in the government stock market fell to slightly more normalised levels as €804,409 nominal was traded across 42 deals in 14 government stocks. The 4.60% MGS 2020 II issue experienced the heaviest volume as €190,700 nominal was traded across eight deals, to close down €0.75, or 0.7 per cent, and end at €103.48. Meanwhile, the 5.10% MGS 2022 I issue recorded the biggest move on the day, dropping €0.85, or 0.8 per cent, to close at €107.38 in a single trade of €15,141 nominal.