The Maltese market closed in the red on Monday, with the MSE total index ending the session 0.497% lower to 7,823.783 points. None of the stocks had a positive performance, while the sbiggest fall was seen from GO plc, which slid 2.56% to close at 3.8. Followed by 2.52% drop of International Hotel Investment plc with closing price of 0.58. Bank of Valletta plc and HSBC Bank Malta plc together with Malta International Airport plc and BMIT Technologies plc were active but close unchanged.
European stocks rallied at the start of the holiday-shortened week, boosted by news of falling death rates from the Covid-19 pandemic in France, Italy and Spain, together with a big drop in the rate of new infections in the latter, although analysts remained divided on the outlook for shares. By the end of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 had added 3.73% to 320.58, alongside an advance of 5.77% to 10,075.17 for Germany's Dax and a rise of 4.0% to 17,039.31 for Italy's FTSE Mibtel, while Spain's Ibex 35 added 3.99% to 6844.3.
U.S. stocks soared more than 7% Monday, ending near session highs, as investors focused on signs that the rapid spread of COVID-19 may be stabilizing in the New York, which is now the center of the pandemic. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.7%, to finish at 22,679.99. The S&P 500 climbed 7%, to end at 2,663.68. The Nasdaq Composite surged 7.3%, to close at 7,913.24.
Koch Industries announced yesterday that it has closed on the acquisition of Infor, announced in February
The company never officially announced the purchase price, but sources indicated that it was close to $13 billion, putting it in line to be one of the top 10 enterprise acquisitions this year.
Infor will remain an independent subsidiary of Koch, which tends to deal more in manufacturing than software. The goal is to use the resources of Koch to continue to build out the company product family with a focus on industry-specific solutions.
At the time of the deal in February, CEO Kevin Samuelson certainly saw the potential of having a company with the financial resources of Koch backing his organization.
This transition to the cloud is becoming even more pressing as companies deal with the COVID-19 crisis and are forced to find creative ways to keep their businesses going, even when many employees can't come into the office. Having access to applications in the cloud certainly helps ease that burden.
This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, Junior Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.