Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/641079
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 17 FEBRUARY 2016 12 Regular market closed – 16/2/2016 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change ▼ BOV 62,427 137,821.920 25 2.220 2.200 2.214 2.200 -0.014 ▲ FIM 125,654 79,812.020 3 0.640 0.630 0.630 0.640 0.030 ▼ GO 1,850 6,028.550 2 3.260 3.250 3.250 3.260 -0.005 ▲ HSB 22,389 36,098.400 5 1.620 1.600 1.601 1.620 0.020 ▲ IHI 36,550 26,316.000 10 0.720 0.720 0.720 0.720 0.001 ▲ LQS 1,424 185.120 1 0.130 0.130 0.130 0.130 0.010 ● MDS 13,000 19,870.070 3 1.530 1.520 1.530 1.530 0.000 ● MIA 12,275 57,754.800 13 4.720 4.700 4.720 4.720 0.000 ▼ MLT 11,000 10,040.000 2 0.940 0.910 0.910 0.940 -0.010 ● MMS 2,600 6,379.000 2 2.455 2.450 2.455 2.450 0.000 ▼ MPC 245 135.000 1 0.551 0.551 0.551 0.551 -0.018 ▲ RS2 16,090 54,156.750 9 3.400 3.350 3.365 3.380 0.015 ▲ SFC 200 1,250.000 1 6.250 6.250 6.250 6.250 0.150 ● TML 5,700 5,529.000 1 0.970 0.970 0.970 0.970 0.000 ▼ G16A 46,588 46,895.480 1 100.660 100.660 100.660 100.660 -0.110 ▼ G16B 41,929 43,471.990 3 103.680 103.680 103.680 103.680 -0.010 ▼ G17C 70,000 75,061.000 7 107.230 107.230 107.230 107.230 -0.070 ▼ G18A 1,864 2,210.700 1 118.600 118.600 118.600 118.600 -0.020 ▲ G19C 10,000 10,996.000 1 109.960 109.960 109.960 109.960 0.050 ▲ G20A 23,294 28,141.480 2 120.810 120.810 120.810 120.810 0.050 ▲ G21A 85,863 106,470.120 3 124.000 124.000 124.000 124.000 0.090 ▼ G24A 2,100 2,463.300 1 117.300 117.300 117.300 117.300 -0.480 ▲ G28A 42,000 56,490.000 2 134.500 134.500 134.500 134.500 0.120 ▲ G29B 507,800 535,789.680 21 105.560 105.000 105.000 105.560 0.090 ▲ G30A 113,000 159,815.900 4 141.430 141.430 141.430 141.430 0.080 ▲ G31A 28,200 40,001.700 3 141.850 141.850 141.850 141.850 0.070 ▲ G32A 29,000 39,121.000 4 134.900 134.900 134.900 134.900 0.080 ▲ G32B 12,500 16,520.000 2 132.160 132.160 132.160 132.160 0.090 ▲ G33A 162,000 210,837.000 3 130.150 130.100 130.100 130.100 0.060 ▲ G34A 274,000 347,778.800 7 126.970 126.820 126.870 126.820 0.080 ▲ G40A 110,400 118,869.680 6 107.680 107.670 107.670 107.680 0.270 ▲ BV18A 25,000 26,747.500 1 106.990 106.990 106.990 106.990 2.480 ● CB25A 12,000 12,279.000 2 102.500 102.200 102.200 102.500 0.000 ▼ CF19A 10,000 10,100.000 1 101.000 101.000 101.000 101.000 -1.900 ● HP25A 62,700 67,019.800 13 107.000 105.500 105.500 107.000 0.000 ▼ IG24A 17,600 19,258.500 3 109.500 109.000 109.500 109.000 -0.500 ● IH25A 7,900 8,690.000 3 110.000 110.000 110.000 110.000 0.000 ▲ TI20A 6,000 6,360.000 1 106.000 106.000 106.000 106.000 1.500 Market Summary as at February 16, 2016 Equity Offi cial List Session State ................................................................... Market Closed Number of trades ............................................................. 173 Volume Traded ................................................................. 2,013,142 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 2,352,953.240 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 79,812.020 Value of GBP£ denominated securities .............................. 0.000 Current Index ................................................................... 4,476.846 Previous Index ................................................................. 4,461.614 Change in Index (%) ......................................................... 0.341% 6pm Holdings plc ......................... 0.725 0.00% MaltaPost plc ................................ 1.937 0.00% Bank of Valletta plc ....................... 2.214 -0.05% Medserv plc .................................. 1.530 -2.17% FIMBank plc ................................. 0.610 0.00% Mapfre Middlesea plc .................... 2.450 0.00% GlobalCapital plc .......................... 0.450 0.00% MIDI plc ........................................ 0.350 0.00% GO plc .......................................... 3.265 0.46% Plaza Centres plc ........................... 0.980 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc ............. 1.030 0.00% RS2 Software plc ........................... 3.365 0.75% HSBC Bank Malta plc ..................... 1.600 -1.84% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc .............. 6.100 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.719 0.00% Tigné Mall plc ............................... 0.970 0.00% Island Hotels Group Holdings plc ... 1.101 0.00% Pefaco International plc ................. 2.240 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ............... 2.185 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc ........ 2.220 0.00% Malita Investments plc .................. 0.950 0.00% Malta Properties Company plc ....... 0.569 1.61% Malta International Airport plc ....... 4.720 0.43% MSE Index Business Today Top German court questions ECB bond-buying Top judges in Germany are set to examine a European Central Bank bond-buying scheme, because crit- ics say it risks enabling the ECB to prop up indebted eurozone govern- ments. The German Constitutional Court is considering legal objections to ECB Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) - a scheme launched in 2012 during the eurozone debt crisis, but not yet used. The ECB is buying €60bn of bonds monthly to help the eurozone. That bond-buying is separate from OMT. The announcement of OMT in 2012 by ECB President Mario Draghi had a calming effect on markets that were spooked by the eurozone sovereign debt crisis. OMT would involve unlimited bond purchases. Draghi famously declared that he would do "whatever it takes" to safeguard the euro. Last summer the European Court of Justice (ECJ) - the EU's top court - ruled that OMT was compatible with EU law. The scheme fell within the ECB's mandate of maintaining price stability, the ECJ decided. The idea of the ECB buying up the sovereign bonds of a country in distress, to prevent speculators forcing up yields - the interest charged on those bonds - alarms some German politicians. OMT purchases would be made under the strict terms of a eurozone bailout - a government would have to enact major economic reforms, in order to get such emergency ECB support. Observers say the German court's ruling - not expected for months - could have an impact on the current ECB bond-buying programme, known as quantitative easing (QE). The OMT critics in the German case include Peter Gauweiler, a conservative MP in the Bavarian CSU party, ex-justice minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin (Social Democrat SPD) and leftist Die Linke MPs. Japan's economy contracts in fourth quarter Japan's economy contracted in the final three months of 2015, add- ing to a string of setbacks for the government's economic reform policy. Between October and December, it shrank by 0.4% compared with the previous quarter, official figures show. Expectations for the numbers were for a quarterly contraction of 0.3%. Weaker domestic demand, together with slower investment in housing, contributed to the disappointing numbers. On an annualised basis the economy contracted 1.4% during the period. That compares with expectations for an annualised contraction of 1.2%. The annualised figure is the rate at which the economy would have contracted over a full 12 months had the December quarter been a reflection of the entire year. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to revive the economy - dubbed Abenomics - was introduced after his December 2013 election win. Its aim was to combat deflation, which Japan has struggled with for nearly two decades, as well as boost demand and investment. It also wanted to weaken the yen, so helping big exporters like Toyota become more competitive. But growth has remained a concern. Analysts say Japan needs to ensure exports grow in order to support future economic growth - for every 1% that Japan's economy grows, between 0.5 and 0.7% comes from exports. The country also relies heavily on domestic consumption but its population is ageing and shrinking so fewer people are contributing to the economy. In the three months to September, according to revised numbers, Japan avoided a technical recession. But it has already been in recession four times since the global financial crisis. Some analysts said Monday's numbers should be viewed in context. "A single negative growth number should not be over- interpreted because the economy remains in rather good shape and continues to get strong policy support," said economist Martin Schulz. Investors seemed to shrug off Monday's growth numbers, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 jumping more than 4% shortly after the figures were released. However, the benchmark shed more than 11% last week, which was a short trading week due to a public holiday on Thursday. The country's big exporters were particularly hard hit as a stronger yen against the dollar hurt investor sentiment. "Until December, exports have still been growing, thanks to a lower yen," said Schulz. "But both trends have already been reversed during December, and the yen is rallying now," he added. Steel protesters call for EU help Thousands of steel industry workers have been protesting in Brussels in support of their ailing industry Hundreds of workers from the UK were among those pressing for the European Commission to tackle cheap Chinese steel being "dumped" across Europe. Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel's European operations, also joined the protest. He said: "The situation facing Tata Steel and other European steelmakers is perilous." Koehler added: "If the European Commission does not take immediate and robust action, thousands of jobs in the industry, and many more thousands in the wider supply chain, will be threatened." In January, Tata Steel confirmed that it would cut more than 1,000 jobs in the UK, including 750 at Port Talbot, the UK's biggest steelworks. Koehler said that the industry was "not asking for special treatment". "We are asking for the European Commission to stand up for fair trade and to give European steelmakers a chance to compete on a level playing field," he added. Business Minister Anna Soubry said: "We are taking action on energy costs, public procurement and industrial emissions at home to help the steel sector, but this is a global problem requiring a global solution." She called for "swifter investigations into dumping and the tariffs then being set at the right level". Gareth Stace, director of trade body UK Steel, told BBC Radio 5 live that the protest in Brussels was an "unprecedented situation" due to workers and chief executives attending, and he called for "swift, firm and decisive action to tackle the ongoing steel crisis". "We want to see the European Commission speeding up the investigation process. We want whatever they come up with in terms of tariffs to be meaningful and have teeth and actually tackle the problem to stem the flood of Chinese steel."