After trading most of Friday’s session in the red, the Malta Stock Exchange Index closed almost 13 points, or 0.4 per cent higher, to close at 3,495.175 on healthy trading volume of 80,234 shares across 35 deals.

RS2 software had the day’s best performance, soaring 4c, or 12.9 per cent, after trading 1c lower earlier in the day. The stock closed at €0.350 on volume of 14,200 shares across 4 deals.

In the banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc added 2c9, or 1.0 per cent, to end at €2.889 in a single deal of 2,000 shares.

Bank of Valletta plc managed to add another 1c, or 0.3 per cent, to close at €2.940 in thirteen deals for a total of 18,042 shares. BOV shares had traded lower for much of yesterday’s session, yet managed to crawl back at the last few moments of trading to register their third straight day of gains.

Also in the banking sector, Lombard Bank plc closed unchanged at €3.010 in light volume of 9,251 shares across two deals.

Lombard’s postal subsidiary, MaltaPost plc, gained 0c5, or 0.5 per cent, to close at €1.100, in robust volume of 18,389 shares across seven deals.

Also closing on the upside was Malta International Airport plc (MIA), whose stock added 3c, or 1.8 per cent, in three deals for a total of 12,400 shares. At the end of the day on Thursday, MIA released its operating results for the financial period ended 31 December 2010. The airport operator registered a pre-tax profit of just under €17.0 million, a 20.1 per cent gain over the previous year as revenue increased by 10.5 per cent to €51.3 million versus €46.4 million.

The sole equity to end the day lower was that of GO plc, which shed 4c, or 2.4 per cent, to finish at €1.660 in five deals for a total of 5,952 shares. Today’s trading in GO seems to be a delayed reaction from investors to GO’s results which were published on Tuesday. The telecommunications provider announced that it had suffered a pre-tax loss of €9.1 million, and an after-tax loss of €18.2 million on revenue of €132.3 million.

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