Market summary:

Maltese market closed in red on Thursday, with MSE total index ending the session 0.511% lower to 9,480.837 points. Best performer was Simonds Farsons CIsk plc, by adding 0.92% to close at 11.00, followed by 0.85% jump of RS2 Software plc with closing price of 2.36. Biggest fall was seen from FIMBank plc, 3.33% drop to 0.58, followed by 1.44% and 0.96% fall of Malta International Airport plc and GO plc with closing price 6.85 and 4.14 respectively. Bank of Valletta plc and HSBC Bank Malta plc synchronically declined 0.94% to close 1.05.

Stocks on the continent were higher at the end of the day on Thursday, as investors looked to Friday's monthly US jobs report and digested what one analyst in the City termed an "unequivocally grim" report on German factory orders. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.44% at 425.48, as Germany's DAX last added 0.72% to 13,574.82 and the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.88% to 6,038.18.

U.S. stocks closed higher Thursday, seizing a fresh round of records, after the market got another shot of confidence from promised trade tariff reductions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.3%, at 29,379.77, after carving out an intraday record at 29,408.05. The S&P 500 index rose 0.3% to 3,345.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.7% to settle at 9,572.15. All three indexes closed at new records.

Hamilton and Pyramid merger brings £5.3bn of hotel assets into combined management

The Boards of Hamilton Hotel Partners, an independent London-based hotel management and investment firm, and Pyramid Hotel Group, a privately-owned full-service hotel and resort company based in Boston are delighted to announce today that they have completed a transaction that involves the merger of the two businesses. The merger will create a leading international group that will manage, or asset manage a total of 141 hotels with 32,000 rooms across 8 countries, and GBP5.3bn of assets under management.

The merger will enable Hamilton to leverage Pyramid’s extensive institutional hotel management infrastructure and Pyramid will access Hamilton’s unrivalled hotel advisory, asset management and management experience and track record in Europe. It was driven by Pyramid’s desire to rapidly expand their management platform in Europe, in response to the return of strong US investor appetite. The combined entity will have a multinational base, providing a full service to institutional investors in the US, UK, Europe and the Middle East.

This article was issued by Nadiia Grech, Junior 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.