Malta Stock Exchange Weekly: September Rally Fizzles but Island’s Heartbeat Steady

# MSE Wrap-Up: September Rally Fizzles as Maltese Investors Eye Year-End Dividends

**Valletta** – The Malta Stock Exchange closed the week ended 26 September 2025 with the MSE Equity Total Return Index up 0.41 % at 10,047.32 – a whisper-thin gain that still felt like a small victory after August’s turbulence. Turnover totalled €4.9 million across 132 trades, modest by pre-summer standards but enough to keep brokers chatting over post-work ħobż biż-żejt at Castille Square.

For ordinary Maltese, the weekly report is more than numbers on a Bloomberg terminal; it’s a barometer of the island’s economic weather. Grandmothers in Sliema check the bond yields before renewing their fixed-term deposits, while taxi drivers outside the new Gozo tunnel entrance argue whether GO’s dividend can still cover a festa-season jaunt to Sicily. When the market twitches, the ripples reach the village band clubs that rely on bank sponsorships and the fireworks factories waiting for corporate donations to light up Santa Marija night.

## Banks and telecoms lead the dance

Bank of Valletta edged 0.8 % higher to €1.26, shrugging off fresh ECB chatter about higher capital buffers. HSBC Malta Holdings added 1.1 %, closing at €1.84 – a relief to retirees who bought in back when branches still handed out complimentary calendars. GO plc, the telecoms blue-chip whose masts beam Netflix to half the archipelago, advanced 2.3 % to €3.10 after hinting at a special dividend tied to the sale of its Cyprus towers. The move rekindled island-wide nostalgia for the days when “Telettra” was a household name and every village had one communal phone in the grocer’s.

## Real estate: A quieter open house

Malta Properties Company, the state-owned landlord of courthouses and health clinics, slipped 0.5 % to 60c. Analysts blame the drift on uncertainty over the new Labour government’s plan to convert vacant Gozo palazzos into co-living hubs for digital nomads. Still, the stock is up 9 % year-to-date, outperforming European REITs battered by rising rates. In Rabat, 68-year-old landlord Carmenu Pace isn’t complaining: “My father bought MPC shares instead of a second donkey. The dividend still pays for my grandchildren’s private lessons.”

## The bond desk: A safe harbour with a Maltese twist

Corporate bonds stole the limelight, trading €2.3 million. The 4 % Mediterranean Maritime Finance 2029 – financing the new electric ferry between Valletta and Mgarr – was the most active, changing hands at 102.75. Locals like the paper because it finances something they can actually sail on Sunday mornings. Meanwhile, the 3.5 % Government Stock 2034 closed at 99.60, yielding 3.58 %. That’s still 180 basis points above equivalent German Bunds, enough to lure Bavarian retirees who have swapped Mallorca for Mellieħa’s seafront flats.

## SMEs sneak into the spotlight

On the Prospects MTF – the MSE’s junior market for growth companies – waste-to-energy start-up EcoTherm Ltd debuted at 18c, rallying to 21c by Friday. The plant in Ħal Far will convert frying oil from 400 village festa food stalls into electricity, proving that rabbit stew can literally power Malta. CEO Claire Zammit, a Calascibetta native, rang the bell wearing a hand-woven lace blouse from her hometown. “We wanted the listing to feel like a village feast,” she laughed, confetti still in her hair.

## Community pulse: When the market meets the festa

Trading volumes may be thin compared to Milan or Madrid, but the social fabric is thick. This week, Lombard Bank confirmed it will sponsor December’s Valletta Christmas crib competition; the news nudged its stock 0.6 % higher. In Għaxaq, parish priest Fr. Rene’ told Times of Malta that profits from church-owned APS Bank shares will fund new gold leaf on the village statue of St. Mary. “The market serves the altar,” he quipped, reminding traders that capitalism and Catholicism coexist on an island barely twice the size of Birkirkara’s traffic jam.

## Looking ahead: Budget rumours and cruise-ship queues

Brokers now turn their gaze to the 2026 budget, due 13 October. Whispers of a reduced withholding tax on dividends have retail investors hoarding beer at €1.20 a pint in anticipation of bigger New-Year toasts. Meanwhile, the first winter cruise ship docked Friday, unloading 4,000 shoppers onto Merchants Street. If onboard lectures lure even 1 % of passengers to open local brokerage accounts, the MSE could see a festive fourth-quarter bump.

## Conclusion: Small pond, big heart

In Malta, the stock market is not an anonymous casino; it’s a parish square where companies and citizens share the same wooden bench. A 0.41 % weekly gain won’t make global headlines, but it keeps pensioners smiling, festa fireworks flying, and electric ferries gliding across Grand Harbour. As the bells of St. John’s Co-Cathedral tolled Friday evening, traders closed their laptops, slipped on linen jackets, and headed for happy-hour ħobż biż-żejt. The index may have inched, yet the island’s pulse raced—because here, every tick is personal.