Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/574624
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER 2015 12 Business Today Regular market closed – 22/09/2015 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change l BOV 13,200 30,492.000 4 2.310 2.310 2.310 2.310 0.000 t FIM 19,102 9,359.980 2 0.490 0.490 0.490 0.490 -0.010 t GO 19,900 67,225.000 9 3.400 3.350 3.350 3.350 -0.100 s MDS 3,600 11,124.000 2 3.090 3.090 3.090 3.090 0.040 l MIA 2,100 8,190.000 2 3.900 3.900 3.900 3.900 0.000 l RS2 1,700 4,284.000 1 2.520 2.520 2.520 2.520 0.000 l SFC 2,500 14,000.000 2 5.600 5.600 5.600 5.600 0.000 s G17C 20,000 21,756.000 1 108.780 108.780 108.780 108.780 0.050 s G21A 23,634 29,128.900 2 123.250 123.250 123.250 123.250 0.120 s G23A 4,659 6,109.340 2 131.130 131.130 131.130 131.130 1.110 s G28A 20,000 26,344.000 1 131.720 131.720 131.720 131.720 0.310 s G28B 50,000 64,070.000 3 128.330 127.950 127.950 128.330 0.300 s G29A 5,200 7,069.400 1 135.950 135.950 135.950 135.950 1.430 s G31A 4,000 5,540.000 1 138.500 138.500 138.500 138.500 0.210 s G32A 11,000 14,462.500 2 131.510 131.420 131.420 131.510 1.290 s G33A 44,000 55,976.800 2 127.220 127.220 127.220 127.220 1.340 s G34A 10,900 13,607.560 1 124.840 124.840 124.840 124.840 0.150 t G40A 17,000 18,005.000 3 106.060 105.700 106.060 105.700 -0.360 s 6PM25 60,000 65,428.000 4 109.450 109.010 109.010 109.450 0.440 t BV20A 5,000 5,375.000 1 107.500 107.500 107.500 107.500 -0.500 l HB17A 9,085 9,357.550 1 103.000 103.000 103.000 103.000 0.000 l IG24A 11,500 12,937.500 1 112.500 112.500 112.500 112.500 0.000 s IH25A 5,000 5,524.500 1 110.490 110.490 110.490 110.490 0.490 t MF24A 23,000 25,300.000 1 110.000 110.000 110.000 110.000 -1.110 s MI17A 4,000 4,024.000 1 100.600 100.600 100.600 100.600 0.100 t MI20A 30,300 31,510.940 3 104.000 103.980 104.000 103.980 -0.020 t MO19A 3,000 3,196.300 2 106.550 106.500 106.550 106.500 -0.500 l PT24A 20,000 22,006.000 1 110.030 110.030 110.030 110.030 0.000 s SF20A 2,000 2,172.000 2 108.600 108.600 108.600 108.600 1.000 Market Summary as at September 22, 2015 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... Market Closed Number of trades ............................................................. 59 Volume Traded ................................................................. 445,380 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 584,216.290 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 9,359.980 Value of GBP£ denominated securities .............................. 0.000 Current Index ................................................................... 4,299.433 Previous Index ................................................................. 4,312.696 Change in Index (%) ......................................................... -0.308 % 6pm Holdings plc .......................... 0.700 0.00% Malta International Airport plc ....... 3.900 0.00% Bank of Valletta plc ........................ 2.310 0.00% MaltaPost plc ................................. 1.636 0.00% FIMBank plc .................................. 0.490 -2.00% Medserv plc .................................. 3.090 1.31% GlobalCapital plc ........................... 0.800 0.00% Mapfre Middlesea plc .................... 2.250 0.00% GO plc ........................................... 3.350 -2.90% MIDI plc ........................................ 0.360 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc ............. 1.000 0.00% Plaza Centres plc ........................... 0.980 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ..................... 1.840 0.00% RS2 Software plc............................ 2.520 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.780 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ............... 5.600 0.00% Island Hotels Group Holdings plc ... 1.101 0.00% Tigné Mall plc ................................ 0.929 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................ 2.100 0.00% Pefaco International plc ................. 2.190 0.00% Malita Investments plc ................... 0.930 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc ......... 2.000 0.00% MSE Index Money Market Report for the week ending September 18, 2015 ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, September 14, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, September 15, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €70.66 billion, €0.24 billion lower than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.05%, in accordance with current ECB policy. On Wednesday, September 16, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.14 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.71%. Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day and 272-day bills maturing on December 17, 2015 and June 16, 2016, respectively. Bids of €34.00 million were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €18.00 million, while bids of €29.05 million were submitted for the 272-day bills, with the Treasury accepting only €0.05 million. Since €2.00 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €16.05 million, to stand at €256.10 million. The yield from the 90-day bill auction was 0.002%, down by 1.5 basis points from bids with a similar tenor issued on September 11, 2015, representing a bid price of 99.9995 per 100 nominal. The yield from the 272-day bill auction was 0.000%, unchanged from bids with a similar tenor issued on July 17, 2015, representing a bid price of 100.0000 per 100 nominal. During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange. On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 90-day bills maturing on December 24, 2015. Working women increase by almost 7% in two years During the second quarter of 2015, La- bour Force Survey estimates indicate an increase of 1.8 per cent in employ- ment when compared to the corre- sponding quarter of 2014. Labour Force Survey estimates indicate that, during the second quarter, total employment stood at 184,871 accounting to more than half the population aged 15 and over. Unemployed persons stood at 10,594 (2.9 per cent) while inactive persons totalled 164,855 (45.8 per cent). According to the government, Malta was currently registering the highest ever rate of people in employment. The government pointed out that that the rate of employment under the previous administration stood at 58.7 per cent. The activity rate for the quarter under review was estimated at 67.6 per cent. The biggest beneficiaries were women, with the number of working women increasing by almost 7%. The highest activity rate was recorded among persons aged 25-54 (81.2 per cent). When compared to the previous year, the total activity rate increased by 1.2 percentage points. On average, 64 out of every 100 persons aged between 15 and 64 were employed. The highest employment rate was recorded among persons aged between 25 and 54 and stood at 77.7 per cent. The males' employment rate for this age bracket was 90.8 per cent while that for females stood at 64.1 per cent. Employed men were mostly engaged in wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, accommodation and food service activities (29.5 per cent). On the other hand, at 40.6 per cent, employed women were mostly engaged in public administration, defence, education, human health and social work activities. Self-employed persons accounted for 13.8 per cent of the total employed population. The majority of employed persons worked on a full-time basis and totalled 156,603. An estimated 23,617 (12.8 per cent) had a part-time job as their primary employment. A further 4,651 were working on a full-time with reduced hours basis. The average annual basic salary of employees for the second quarter of 2015 was estimated at €16,406. This amount refers to the annual basic salary and excludes extra payments such as overtime, bonuses and allowances, as explained in the methodological notes. The highest average annual basic salary for employees was recorded in information and communication sector. Average annual salaries varied from €28,074 among managers to €11,359 among elementary staff. Survey results estimate that the unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2015, stood at 5.4 per cent. The largest share of unemployed persons was recorded among persons aged 25 and over. Among the unemployed, 45.7 per cent stated that they had been seeking work for at least 12 months. US pharmaceutical company defends 5,000% price increase on AIDS medication The head of a US p h a r m a c e u t i c a l company has de- fended his com- pany's decision to raise the price of a 62-year-old medi- cation used by Aids patients by over 5,000%. Turing Pharmaceuticals acquired the rights to Daraprim in August. CEO Martin Shkreli has said that the company will use the money it makes from sales to research new treatments. The drug treats toxoplasmosis, a parasitic affliction that affects people with compromised immune systems. After Turing's acquisition, a dose of Daraprim in the US increased from $13.50 to $750. The pill costs about $1 to produce, but Shkreli, a former hedge fund manager, said that does not include other costs like marketing, manufacturing and distribution, which have increased dramatically in recent years. "We needed to turn a profit on this drug," Shkreli told Bloomberg TV. "The companies before us were actually giving it away almost." He says the practice is not out of line with the rest of the industry. "These days, modern pharmaceuticals, cancer drugs can cost $100,000 or more, whereas these drugs can cost half a million dollars. Daraprim is still underpriced relative to its peers," he told Bloomberg TV. On Twitter, Shkreli mocked several users who questioned the company's decision, calling one reporter "a moron".