Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/882846
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2017 12 Business Today Here's why The Eurozone manufacturing sector has increased employment to a record high, thanks to continued strong growth in output and new orders. The latest IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) came in at a strong 58.1 in September 2017, with growth reported across all countries included in the survey. Nearly seven-year highs Eurozone manufacturing is at its best for more than six and a half years. Germany is back at the top of the table, with its own six and a half year personal best. The Netherlands has also seen strong performance, in second place and marking its own six and a half year record. France and Greece also had their best performance for nearly six and a half years, with activity picking up for both countries. Production grew at the fastest rate for almost six and a half years as new business saw strong growth. New orders were close to the six-year highs posted in June 2017. More orders, more jobs The need for increased capacity following substantial growth in new business means more jobs for the industry, growing the fastest since the survey started in June 1997. Capacity has been stretched and alongside increased demand for raw materials, this has led to longer vendor lead times. Costs also up Input costs are on the up. Purchase price inflation has grown to the highest for five months. Selling prices have risen accordingly – at the quickest for nearly six months – now rising for a year, and counting… Optimistic outlook Overall positivity is at the second highest recorded for five years, just behind the optimism seen in June when the Eurozone sector broke all records. All manufacturers surveyed anticipate a continued improvement in the sector and further growth over the coming year. Commenting on the latest index, David Johnson, founding director at Halo Financial, said, "It's reassuring to see recovery in the manufacturing sector across the Eurozone, particularly after poor performance in Greece and France seen in recent surveys. "While inflationary pressures are once again making their presence felt, both output and optimism are high – this has already boosted the euro which, among other things, is struggling with the effects of political unrest in Spain. "This strong industrial performance will add fuel to the fire for the European Central Bank (ECB) monetary stimulus debate and could put pressure on the ECB to take steps to wind down quantitative easing sooner, rather than later. One caveat, though is that, across all sectors, Eurozone unemployment is still at 9.1 per cent. That's an improvement on 9.9 per cent a year ago, but still a worrying level by any measure." Regular market closed – 3/10/2017 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change t BOV 14,350 30,135.00 5 2.100 2.100 2.100 2.100 -0.005 t GCL 2,000 642.00 1 0.321 0.321 0.321 0.321 -0.009 t GO 8,000 27,999.98 5 3.580 3.455 3.580 3.455 -0.125 t HSB 20,310 38,659.98 6 1.911 1.900 1.911 1.900 -0.035 l IHI 3,170 1,902.00 1 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.600 0.000 l LOM 500 1,100.00 1 2.200 2.200 2.200 2.200 0.000 t MIA 11,280 50,226.95 5 4.460 4.450 4.460 4.460 -0.040 t MMS 1,460 2,692.24 1 1.844 1.844 1.844 1.844 -0.095 s MPC 8,000 4,056.00 1 0.507 0.507 0.507 0.507 0.001 t MTP 2,545 4,840.59 1 1.902 1.902 1.902 1.902 -0.078 s PG 5,150 7,607.75 4 1.499 1.475 1.476 1.499 0.024 t G19A 20,000 22,554.00 1 112.770 112.770 112.770 112.770 -0.020 s G21A 4,892 5,814.63 1 118.860 118.860 118.860 118.860 0.050 s G22A 4,210 5,214.09 1 123.850 123.850 123.850 123.850 0.130 s G28B 40,000 52,464.00 1 131.160 131.160 131.160 131.160 0.180 s G29A 10,000 13,889.00 1 138.890 138.890 138.890 138.890 0.390 s G30A 25,000 35,422.50 2 141.690 141.690 141.690 141.690 0.130 s G31A 35,400 50,526.42 3 142.730 142.730 142.730 142.730 0.080 s G32A 3,000,000 4,122,300.00 1 137.410 137.410 137.410 137.410 0.320 s G34A 1,000,000 1,316,872.50 3 131.700 131.150 131.150 131.700 0.660 t G35A 5,500 5,672.15 1 103.130 103.130 103.130 103.130 -0.430 t G39A 65,400 64,909.50 3 99.250 99.250 99.250 99.250 -0.250 s G40A 1,049,600 1,207,317.97 14 115.050 114.500 114.500 115.050 0.820 s G41A 35,000 36,149.50 3 103.370 103.250 103.250 103.370 0.290 s BV18A 4,500 4,522.50 1 100.500 100.500 100.500 100.500 0.300 s BV30A 25,000 24,725.00 1 98.900 98.900 98.900 98.900 1.900 t CB27A 5,000 5,075.50 1 101.510 101.510 101.510 101.510 -1.140 s CF22A 10,000 10,350.00 1 103.500 103.500 103.500 103.500 0.990 s CF26A 4,200 4,244.10 1 101.050 101.050 101.050 101.050 1.040 t EF27A 20,000 20,650.00 1 103.250 103.250 103.250 103.250 -0.240 t GP23A 104,800 106,896.00 4 102.000 102.000 102.000 102.000 -1.000 l HP25A 4,600 4,807.00 2 104.500 104.500 104.500 104.500 0.000 s IG24A 20,000 21,430.00 1 107.150 107.150 107.150 107.150 1.140 l IH26A 20,000 20,500.00 3 102.500 102.500 102.500 102.500 0.000 t SD27A 33,000 33,659.00 2 102.000 101.990 101.990 102.000 -1.000 s VH24A 72,000 71,574.30 10 99.900 99.000 99.390 99.900 0.900 Market Summary as at 3/10/2017 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... Market Closed Number of trades ............................................................. 94 Volume Traded ................................................................. 5,694,867 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 7,437,402.15 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 0.00 Value of GBP£ denomi nated securities .............................. 0.00 Current Index ................................................................... - Previous Index ................................................................. - Change in Index (%) ......................................................... - Bank of Valletta plc ........................ 2.105 1.69% Medserv plc .................................. 1.260 5.00% FIMBank plc .................................. 0.710 0.00% Mapfre Middlesea plc .................... 1.939 0.00% GlobalCapital plc ........................... 0.330 0.00% MIDI plc ........................................ 0.310 0.00% GO plc ........................................... 3.580 -0.28% Plaza Centres plc ........................... 1.050 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc ............. 0.894 0.00% RS2 Software plc............................ 1.735 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ..................... 1.935 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ............... 9.500 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.600 -0.83% Tigné Mall plc ................................ 0.960 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................ 2.200 0.00% Pefaco International plc ................. 2.240 0.00% Malita Investments plc ................... 0.741 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc ......... 2.190 0.00% Malta International Airport plc ....... 4.500 0.90% Malta Properties Company plc ........ 0.506 -2.50% MaltaPost plc ................................. 1.980 0.00% PG plc ........................................... 1.475 -1.67% MSE Index Eurozone manufacturing sector reaches another record for employment Manufacturing PMI country rankings – September 2017 Country MI Performance Germany 60.6 77 month high Netherlands 60.0 79 month high Austria 59.4 4 month low Italy 56.3 Unchanged France 56.1 77 month high Ireland 55.4 2 month low Spain 54.3 3 month high Greece 52.8 111 month high