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David Lindsay
In line with stock exchange indices from across Malta’s fellow new EU member states, the Malta Stock Exchange has seen a healthy rise in its performance since joining the European Union on 1 May.
The MSE’s index has, in fact, climbed by 13.7 per cent in the approximate seven months since joining up, from a level of 2,650.476 on 27 April, the Tuesday before accession, to a close of 3,013.565 on Tuesday this week.
The rise reflects similar performances among most other new EU members, whose benchmark indices have all risen, with the exception of Cyprus, which had fallen by some 14 per cent at the beginning of the month.
At the same time, the Central European Blue Chip Index rose 19 per cent to a new record. 19 of the index's 20 members are based in the new member states of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland or Slovenia.
The Slovak Share Index led gains amongst the new members with a 48 per cent surge, Poland's WIG20 Index rose 3.6 per cent, the Czech PX-50 Index added 11 per cent and Hungary's BUX Index climbed 19 per cent.
New initial public offerings are expected to help fuel investor interest in the new EU member states, including Malta, which are selling shares of state-owned companies to raise cash and cut budget deficits as they work to adopt the euro.
Turning back to the Malta Stock Exchange, percentage-wise Bank of Valletta has gained the greatest amount of ground in its closing price, having risen by 29.8 per cent from Lm3.35 on 27 April to a closing price of Lm4.349 yesterday.
Following BOV’s lead, Malta International Airport shares have shown substantial growth of 28.2 per cent, having risen from Lm0.85 to Lm1.09.
Simonds Farsons Cisk has climbed 20 per cent over the time frame from Lm1 to Lm1.20. HSBC and Globe have also climbed by 14.6 and 14.3 per cent respectively. IHI shares are up by 1.3 per cent over the period.
Maltacom shares have remained stable at Lm1.49 for both dates.
Plaza Centres has seen the biggest fall over the period, dropping by 12.1 per cent, followed by FIMBank at a loss of 6.7 per cent, while Lombard Bank and Middle Sea Insurance have dropped by a respective one per cent and 1.7 per cent.
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