In January Riga Stock Exchange total trading volume amounted to EUR 17.14 million. Equity trading was low, EUR 1.52 million, whereas debt trading reached EUR 15.62 million. The two top equities in terms of trading volume were Latvijas Gâze with EUR 0.167 million and Ventspils nafta with EUR 0.153 million. Latvijas Gâze with EUR 346.98 million continued to be the top company in terms of capitalization, to be followed by Ventspils nafta with EUR 102.98 million.
During January the main price gainers were Latvijas balzams with 18.6%, Ditton with 18.18%, and Olainfarm with 11.11%. Kaija lost 25.81% of its price during the month. Equity market capitalization at the end of January stood at EUR 669.86 million (a 2.32% decrease since December). Total debt market value was EUR 482.1 million. Dow Jones Riga Stock Exchange index has increased by 0.61% since the end of December.
According to Central Statistical Bureau of Latvia, the CPI increase in January of 2003 is 0.9%, mainly caused by the increase of food prices. The registered average unemployment rate at the beginning of 2003 was 7.6% (7.7% a year ago).
In January, as a part of public education programme, the Riga Stock Exchange in partnership with the Latvian Central Depository and investment company LHV Securities launched a series of investment seminars. The objective is to introduce non-professionals with the investment alternatives offered by capital markets. The first seminars were well attended.
Tallinn
Hansapank and Estonian Telecom - the leading companies of the Tallinn Stock Exchange lost their value during the first month of the year, causing the TALSE index to fall by nearly 2%. The rest of the companies gained in price. The total value of stock exchange transactions totaled 15 million euros.
Standard & Poor's affirmed its 'A-/A-2' sovereign credit ratings on Estonia. It said the rapid economic growth has led to positive fiscal performance, but increased the country's dependency on foreign borrowing due to the widening current account deficit and a slowdown in net foreign direct investment inflows. The agency added that the outlook was stable.
Consumer prices increased by 3% in Q4 2002. The change was mostly influenced by the increase in the prices of medical services and growth in housing expenses, the Statistics Office reported. Merko Construction has applied for the oil-shale mining permission. The estimated investments in the project would be around 5 to 10 million euros. Quarrying would be carried out in the form of opencast mining and the mining project is expected to last from ten to fifteen years.
I-List company Harju Electricity applied for listing on the Main List of the Tallinn Stock Exchange.
Vilnius
The Securities Commission authorized an increase of the share capital of Rytu Skirstomieji Tinklai AB up to EUR 151.2 million, a reduction of the share capital of Utenos Trikotazas AB to EUR 5.7 million, and a new issue of Klaipëdos Nafta AB shares granting the subscription right to Naftos Terminalas AB.
On 30 January, the Privatization Commission approved the privatization programs of alcohol producers setting the following initial share prices: Stumbras AB at EUR 1.13, Alita AB at EUR 0.24, Anykðèiø Vynas AB at EUR 0.08, and Vilniaus Degtinë AB at EUR 0.07.
As of the beginning of this year, 20 Official and Current List companies published their preliminary results for year 2002, a few of them also informed about the intention to pay out dividends to shareholders. Aggregate data show that last year brought profit to companies supplying and distributing electricity, the Lithuanian gas supplier and the Lithuanian banks (only Lietuvos Zemes Ûkio Bankas AB (Agricultural Bank) reported loss after referrals). Oil refinery Maþeikiø Nafta AB succeeded in curtailing the negative activity result. The month under review was not active. The total turnover was by nearly 9% lower than the monthly average of last year and amounted to EUR 44.54 million. Though the number of trades concluded on the central market rose by 17% and sales of securities increased by 34%, the central market turnover fell by 24% to EUR 3.86 million. An average equity transaction value was EUR 2.16 thousand, which is by 59% below last year's monthly average. The total equity turnover shrank by 59% to EUR 6.44 million. Compared with January a year ago, the total securities turnover went down by 3%. This happened due to an increase of T-bills turnover by 22% (EUR 38.11 million), while the equity turnover was by 56% lower than in January a year ago, when it was EUR 14.77 million. The capitalization of unlisted securities moved downwards, while the capitalization of listed companies went up by the same amount -1% - due to which the total capitalization remained unchanged.
