In March Latvian capital market turnover amounted to EUR 63.89 million. Equity trading volume was EUR 3.46 million, again surpassed by debt trading, which contributed EUR 60.43 million. Equity market capitalisation at the end of the month was LVL 286.35 million (EUR 512 million) - delisting of Unibanka, formerly building over 20% of total market capitalisation, largely accounted for the decrease. Total value of debt securities was EUR 60.43 million. Both Dow Jones RSE and RICI indexes have depreciated since the end of the previous month Πby 3.46% and 2.92% respectively. In equity market Balta was the top traded company, the traded volume being LVL 0.83 million. In debt market, traditionally, the leader was Government Treasury bond with 5 year maturity, traded LVL 31.3 million worth.
More exact macroeconomic figures for 2000 have been released by Central Statistical Bureau. In Latvia GDP has increased by 6.6%, which exceeds the provisional 5.5% increase reported at the beginning of 2001. This is the highest increase among the Baltic countries. Bank of Latvia has reported that in 2000 the current account deficit was 6.8% of GDP, which is a significant improvement over the last year™s 10%.
The RSE Management Board resolved on listing of open-end fund units on the Official List of the RSE. The minimum market value of the fund on the listing day should not be less than LVL 100,000 (EUR 180,000). The fund units will not be traded on the RSE. The RSE will disseminate the information as to the buy and sell price of the fund units, number of units traded, the book value of a unit and the total asset value of the fund.
Tallinn
The behaviour of Estonian securities market in March reflected the negative trends in equity markets world-wide as the main index TALSE dropped by 6.12% during the month. The trading activity was lower with the average daily turnover at EUR 0.7 million. The annual general meeting of the TSE approved the directed issue of shares to HEX Group of Finland, thereby giving a go-ahead to the strategic co-operation between HEX and TSE. HEX has offered to acquire over 50% ownership in TSE, which will be achieved by purchases of existing shares as well as subscription of the newly issued shares. HEX has offered to pay EEK 45,000 (~2,875 EUR) per each TSE share. Before the issue, TSE has 660 shares outstanding with a par value of EEK 10,000.
Estonia™s 2000 current account deficit was 6.8% of GDP compared to 5.8% the year before. The central bank said that the goods and services balance deficit has dropped significantly due to rapidly growing exports to the record low of 4.3% of GDP. On the other hand, foreign direct investment inflow was steady, with profitability going up, thus increasing the current account deficit. By quarters the current account balance varied subject to seasonal factors. During the first three quarters the deficit stayed at a relatively moderate level (3.9Œ5.6% of GDP) whereas in Q4 it underwent a traditionally sharp leap, mostly due to the increased demand for imported goods. Hansapank will increase its share capital by EEK 6.5 million (~0.4 mln EUR) through issue of 650,000 new shares to its employees and managers. The issue price of a share in the option programme will be EEK 138.60. The new amount of the share capital of Hansapank after the issue will be EEK 795 million (~50.8 mln EUR).
Vilnius
The Board of the NSEL approved amendments to the methodology for calculating the index LITIN-10. It was also decided not to include unlisted shares to which central market procedures are temporarily applied into the calculation base of LITIN-G, capitalised index of all listed shares. This change determined removal of shares of AB Vilniaus Bankas, whose nearly all shares are held by SEB Bank, from the index base. Amendments to the LITIN-10 methodology provide for a detailed administration of shares to be admitted into the index base.
The index now is to be revised every six months in order to preserve its stability and flexibility. Moreover, a new major requirement was introduced according to which capitalisation of the company™s free float must fall among TOP-20. If the share does not meet this requirement, its turnover is not taken into consideration. Besides, a certain filter on the central market share turnover (in Litas) of 52 weeks was launched. This allows the turnover of the share, included into the index base, to fall out of TOP-10 but not lower than the 15th position. Only when the share, which is not in the index yet, falls among TOP-5 turnovers, shares with the smallest turnover are replaced with the new ones and it is of no importance whether it passes the filter of TOP-15 turnovers. The above mentioned changes to the administration of the index might slightly reduce the portion of the turnover of TOP-10 index shares in the total share turnover, yet, they will enhance stability of the index as well as reflect the price dynamics of the entire market more effectively.
On 2 April 2001, the composition of the Baltic List was changed as Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian stock exchanges approved changes to the Baltic List. Ekranas, Lithuanian manufacturer of tubes, was admitted to the list of Baltic blue-chip securities to replace Latvijas Unibanka which delisted from Riga Stock Exchange.
