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In May the Riga Stock Exchange trading volume amounted to EUR 28.45 million: equity trading volume was EUR 11.55 million, while debt trading was EUR 16.9 million. The newly listed Official List company SAF Tehnika (a communications equipment developer and manufacturer; the first IPO and listing from private sector since 1997) with EUR 9.17 million was the turnover leader, followed by Ventspils nafta with EUR 1.01 million. Latvijas Gaze with EUR 330.2 million continued to be the largest company according to market capitalisation.
Equity market capitalisation at the end of May was EUR 1025.58 million, while debt market value was EUR 623.25 million. Dow Jones Riga Stock Exchange index dropped by 2.26% since the end of April; the growth since the beginning of the year is 14.97%. The main price winners in May were Olainfarm (+16.67%), Valmieras SS (+12.7%) Grindeks (+9.23); 4 more Official or Second list companies gained in price. Rigas Transporta flote with –9.09 % was the loser of the month.
The Riga Stock Exchange organised a conference on IPO on May 18. This was the first conference on this topic ever organised in Latvia. The attendants included representatives of listed companies and potential issuers; industry experts; mass media.
Tallinn
In May, the equity turnover of Tallinn Stock Exchange amounted to EUR 59 million. TALSE index has risen by 16% since the beginning of the year, with the index closing at 331.7 points in the end of May.
The meeting of TSE Listing and Surveillance Committee took place in May. It punished several companies (Estiko, Baltika, Hansabank as a member firm, Farmaatsiatehas, Kalev) over breach of TSE Rules.
Shares of I-List company Estiko will be delisted from TSE as from July 1, 2004 on its own request. 237 bonds of Fenniger will be traded on Bonds List starting June 3, 2004.
The total volume of funded pension system funds amounted to EUR 97 million in May. The total number of people in the system was 370,018 as of May 31.
On average, the prices of goods and services in May 2004 were 3.7% higher than in May 2003, the Statistics Office reported.
As of May 31 the offices of HEX Tallinn (Tallinn Stock Exchange/Estonian CSD) will be relocated. The address and contact information will be as follows: City Plaza, 14th floor, Tartu St. 2, 10145 Tallinn, Estonia. The phone numbers will remain the same.
Vilnius
In May, the monthly turnover at the Exchange amounted to EUR 46 million, exceeding the average monthly result of the previous year, but falling behind the trading values of the current year. Lack of positive news in the market forced share demand down faster than supply, resulting in the share price correction - values of the indices dropped by almost 5 percent each.
Share turnover of the month amounted to EUR 16 million. Shares of Vilniaus Vingis and Lietuvos Telekomas won the leading positions back. Trading in shares of just five companies constituted more than a half of the aggregate turnover. The turnover of debt securities slightly exceeded the April value reaching EUR 30 million.
From the beginning of the year, the aggregate securities turnover at the NSEL accounted for EUR 404 million, out of which EUR 206 million fell to debt securities and EUR 198 million to shares. The latter exceeded last year’s total share turnover by EUR 26 million.
On 28 May, OMHEX, Northern Europe’s largest securities market operator, and the Lithuanian State Property Fund (SPF) closed the transaction, whereby OMHEX purchased 44.3 percent of the shares of the National Stock Exchange of Lithuania (NSEL) and 32 percent of the shares of the Central Securities Depository of Lithuania (CSDL).
