BOV and HSBC drag MSE equity price index lower

The MSE Equity Price Index erased some of Wednesday's gains as it slipped by 0.24% to 4,413.276 points on Thursday. Overall, the drops in the share prices of five equities, including BOV & HSBC, outweighed the gains in RS2 (+1.3%) and Lombard (+0.5%). Today’s trading session was also characterised by various company announcements issued by BOV, MIA, Farsons and Malta Properties. During this shortened week, the local equity index shed 0.23%

Bank of Valletta plc moved back to the €1.75 level (-1.1%) across 21,252 shares. The 1-for-4 Rights Issue ended yesterday and today the bank revealed that it received subscriptions for a total amount of €197 million, resulting in an oversubscription of approximately €47 million.

The bank noted that subscriptions received from existing shareholders and/or their assignees exceeded the amount of 105 million new shares on offer. Existing shareholders or their assignees that applied for part or all of their proportionate entitlement will be allocated all amounts applied for.

Moreover, subscriptions for lapsed rights by existing shareholders will be scaled down in accordance with the allocation policy to be announced by BOV by 19 December 2017.