Riga
In December Latvian capital market turnover amounted to EUR 53.34 million. Equity trading volume was EUR 36.52 million, surpassing trading with debt securities (EUR 16.82 million). Equity market capitalization at the end of the month stood at LVL 348.01 million (EUR 592.87 million). Both Dow Jones RSE and RICI indexes have depreciated since November (2.56% and 2.32% respectively).
The market performance during 2000 has been an outstanding one. Total market turnover amounted to EUR 962 million, which is an 1800% increase over the 1999 figure. Trading in equity has increased by 482.2% and trading in debt by 9813%. The increase of Dow Jones RSE index was 58.55% (year-on year); RICI index increase was 1.94% over the previous year.
On December 18 an auction of 2% of state holding in Latvijas Gaze was run on the RSE system. Altogether, 798 thousand shares were sold at a price LVL 4.72 per share, thus raising LVL 3.76 million to the state. The average weighted market price for that day was LVL 3.58.
On December 21, 2000, shareholders extraordinary general meeting elected Mr. Guntars Kokorevics as President of the Riga Stock Exchange. Previously Guntars Kokorevics was Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Management Board.
The RSE did not changed its trading fees for 2001. The fee charged to each counterpart in equity deals remains 0.15% of the transaction value, however, not exceeding 30 LVL. The trading fee for debt securities remains 0.01% of the transaction value.
Tallinn
Estonian stock market main index TALSE ended the year at 138.24, an annual gain of 10.15%, one of the highest among the whole region. The total turnover was EUR 345 million, up by 17% from the previous year while the average daily turnover was EUR 1.4 million.
Starting from 2001, new price list of TSE came into force. The stock exchange transaction fee to member firms, previously fixed at EEK 35, was replaced with a proportional fee of 0.025% of the transaction size. TSE aims to establish more investor-friendly fees and thus create conditions for lowering the costs of operating on the securities market.
International rating agency Standard & Poor’s upgraded Estonia’s BBB+ rating outlook from “stable” to “positive”.
As of January 1, 2001, Estonian telephony market was deregulated, which marked the end of monopoly of the phone and data communication operator Estonian Telephone Company, a subsidiary of TSE listed Estonian Telecom.
Hansapank, the leading bank in the Baltics, commenced negotiations with Lithuanian State Property Fund for the privatisation of 90.7% of shares in Lithuanian Savings Bank (Lietuvos Taupomasis Bankas). Hansapank has currently a 2% market share in Lithuania, which would grow to about 30% if the deal is completed.
Main List company and second largest Estonian bank Eesti Ühispank was delisted on January 1, 2001 after successful takeover bid by its parent company, Swedish Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB), during which it increased its ownership in the Ühispank to 96%.
Vilnius
The total turnover of the NSEL for the year 2000 amounted to LTL 1,758.74 million (EUR 488.2 million), which was by 23.6% lower than in 1999. Share turnover was LTL 808.78 million (EUR 227.9 million), or by 34.6% down compared to the previous year. Trading in Debt Securities constituted LTL 949.96 million (EUR 260.2 million), marking the fall of 10.9%. In the course of the year the Current List index LITIN-A and the benchmark LITIN-10 lowered by approximately 1 per cent. The total price level or LITIN-G declined by 3.85%.
The Official List index LITIN suffered most as it plunged by 12.55%. The decline of the two latter indices was most affected by Lietuvos Telekomas, which has the largest weight in the two indices, shares decline. The share price of Lietuvos Telekomas depreciated from LTL 3.15 (IPO price in June 2000) to LTL 2.10. Nevertheless, shares of this telecommunications company considerably revived trading on the Exchange and the company™s share turnover was the largest on the central market.
In order to better reflect the situation on the Lithuanian securities market, the NSEL has decided to make the following changes in the LITIN-10 index base effective from January 2, 2001: to remove shares of the stock companies Vilniaus bankas, Utenos trikotaþas and Kalnapilis from the index; to include shares of the stock companies Ekranas, Vilniaus Vingis and Linas to the index. From January 2, 2001, LITIN-10 will comprise shares of the following companies: Ekranas, Lietuvos Energija, Lietuvos Jûrø Laivininkystë, Lietuvos Telekomas, Linas, Maþeikiø Nafta, Rokiðkio Sûris, Snaige, Ûkio bankas, Vilniaus Vingis. It was also decided to make the following changes in the indices™ methodology: to calculate LITIN, LITIN-A and LITIN-G indices according to the closing share prices of the trading session from January 2, 2001; to introduce a 20% limit on a weighting of the share, included into LITIN-10 index, according to the results of the end of each quarter.
