The total Latvian capital market turnover in July amounted to EUR 54.60 (LVL 32.38) million.
Equity market turnover was EUR 38.67 (LVL 22.93) million; debt market trading volume was below average level - EUR 15.93 (LVL 9.45) million. Equity market capitalisation as of July 31 was EUR 715.18 (LVL 424.10) million, while total nominal value of debt securities reached EUR 483.62 (LVL 286.79) million.
If compared to the end value of the previous month, Dow Jones RSE has appreciated by 0.53% or 0.91 points, while RICI price index appreciated even by 2.89% or 6.06 points. Two of the Official and Baltic list companies- Latvijas Gaze and Ventspils Nafta - lost 5.3% and 7.46% respectively of the share price, whereas the newcomer Latvijas Kugnieciba augmented its share value by 3.03%.
What regards other popular stock, six out of ten Second list shares appreciated during the last month, and the price of two shares increased even by two-digit number; two securities experienced a price decline, while the rest stayed at the previous month™s level. Latvijas Kugnieciba, the top traded company during July, gave the major contribution to the total equity market turnover with EUR 37.62 (LVL 22.31) million.
Debt market was complemented by listing of 51 530 government debt securities on the Official list on July 8, 2002 with face value LVL 100 and maturity date on May 8, 2007; and by listing of 9 946 Latvijas Unibanka 3-year bonds on July 19. The latter have a nominal value LVL 1 000, the coupon rate is 6.5%, and maturity is on January 28, 2005.
Tallinn
Turnover in July was stable compared to the month before, amounting to 14 million euros. Pessimism among investors world-wide affected also the Estonian market as the TALSE index ended down 6.36%. Year-to-date yield of the index was 13% at the end of the month.
The European Commission approved the merger between Telia and Sonera, the strategic owners of Eesti Telekom. After the merger, the combined group will possess a 49% share in the Estonian telecommunication firm.
Moody™s upgraded the financial strength rating of Hansabank from C- to C and changes the outlook to positive. The deposit ratings are confirmed at Baa1/Prime-2, which is the sovereign ceiling for Estonia. According to Moody™s, the upgrade in the financial strength rating reflects Hansabank™s dominant position in Estonia, its sound financial fundamentals and good profitability in combination with a conservative risk profile. Moody™s also views Hansapank as the strongest financial institution of the Baltic region.
A consortium of Estonian risk capital firm Alta Capital, Klementi™s management and couple of other investors has acquired strategic stake in clothing company Klementi from Finnish PTA Group. The price for the 79% stake was 0.5 mln EUR. As in line with the legislation, the new owner will make a take-over offer to all minority shareholders but it does not plan the de-listing of the company. Estonia™s Q2 2002 consumer price index was 4.2% compared to the same period a year ago, the Statistics Office said.
Vilnius
In July 2002, there was a summery slowdown in share trading, whereas trading in debt securities increased significantly. Although the number of transactions in the Government securities was slightly smaller than in June, their turnover was the largest this year and amounted to EUR 45 million (LTL 155 million), which is 5.7 times more than in July 2001. In the total turnover, shares accounted for as little as 15.3%. Share turnover was similar to that of June, yet, it was by one fourth smaller than in July 2001. On the central market, the growth of share demand outpaced that of supply, and share demand of as many as 18 companies exceeded the supply. This had a positive influence on share prices. As a result, prices of 19 companies moved up, and values of LITIN-G and LITIN-10 indices improved by almost 3%, which demonstrates quite opposite tendencies of changes of the share price level, as compared to July of the previous year.
However, central market share turnover was over EUR 87 thousand (LTL 300 thousand) just five sessions. In July, trading in shares on the central market equalled EUR 1,7 million (LTL 5.9 million), i.e. nearly twice less than in June. Lietuvos Telekomas AB was the only company this month to generate over EUR 290 thousand (LTL 1 million) on the central market. Share turnover by block transactions (EUR 6,4 million; LTL 22 million) was by 16% larger than in June, yet, more than half of it was generated by shares of Vievio Paukðtynas AB and Ûkio Bankas AB.
In comparison to the NSEL trading results during seven months in 2001, this year the turnover of the Government securities improved by 23% to EUR 230 million (LTL 794 million) and was the largest ever, whereas the central market trading volume grew by 39% to EUR 41 million (LTL 141 million), being the largest in four years.
Shares accounted for 61% of the central market turnover. During the same period, the total turnover of the Exchange increased by 8% exceeding EUR 290 million (LTL 1 billion) and was the largest after the record year of 1999..Baltic Stock Exchanges 2 July 2002
