MSE Equity Price Index climbs to near 2-month high

The MSE Equity Price Index erased Wednesday's decline of 0.12% as it rebounded by 0.3% to a near two-month high of 4,510.887 points. Overall, the gains in the share prices of GO, HSBC, BOV and MIA outweighed the declines in RS2, MaltaPost and FIMBank. Just over half of Thursday's trading activity took place in the equity of Bank of Valletta plc which recaptured the €1.83 level (+0.5%) across 73,749 shares. Within the same sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc added 1% to the €1.97 level on volumes totalling 41,923 shares. Shareholders as at close of trading on Friday March 9, 2018 will be entitled to receive a total net dividend of €0.0806 per share. Also among the large companies by market capitalisation, GO plc was the best performing equity on Thursday with a gain of 1.1% to the €3.54 level after opening at a low of €3.48 (-0.6%). A total of 5,070 shares traded. On Thursday morning, the quad-play telecoms operator announced that it exercised the right to acquire the remaining 49% of the issued share capital of Kinetix IT Solutions Ltd that it previously did not own. Accordingly, GO will now be the sole shareholder of Kinetix. A single deal of just 995 shares lifted the equity of Malta...