Dow breaks through 28,000 | Calamatta Cuschieri

US stocks closed the week at new records on Friday as revived hopes for a US-China trade deal boosted sentiment on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 222.93 points, or 0.8 percent, breaking the 28,000-point barrier to close at 28,004.89, while the S&P 500 index rose 23.83 points, or 0.77 percent, to 3,120.46. The Nasdaq Composite index meanwhile gained 61.81 points, or 0.73 percent, to close the session at 8,540.83.

European markets also followed the bullish comments from a White House official on the ongoing trade talks and closed higher after a week of chopping trading with the pan-European STOXX 600 index gaining 0.4 percent. France’s CAC40 gained 0.84 percent whilst Germany’s DAX rose 0.47 percent.

Maltese markets meanwhile ended just below the flat line with the MSE Equity Total Return Index closing down 0.09 percent at 9,847.882. Grand Harbour Marina Plc jumped 10 percent to close at €0.55 followed by MaltaPost Plc, which gained 5% to €1.31. Malta International Airport Plc meanwhile lost 1.4 percent to end at €7.20, followed by BMIT Technologies Plc which closed down 1 percent at €0.515.

Euronext and SIX bid for Spain’s BME

In more recent news, pan-European stock market operator Euronext and Switzerland’s SIX sparked a bidding war for Spain’s BME on Monday, with both trying to snap up one of Europe’s last standalone stock exchanges. Euronext is small player compared to European rivals LSE and Deutsche Bourse but has gradually built up scale in equities, operating exchanges including Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland.

SIX has offered to buy BME for 34 euros per share, implying a total equity value of 2.843 billion euros while Euronext did not publicly disclose its offer price. Euronext shares were up around 2% by 0825GMT while BME shares were suspended from trading before the market opened, having closed at 25.4 euros per share on Friday.

Attempts at exchange mergers, most recently between the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse, have collapsed in the face of competition and political opposition, although Euronext managed to beat off a challenge from Nasdaq to buy the Oslo exchange recently.

This article was issued by Peter Petrov, Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article are being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.