The BEL20Ò fluctuated in a narrow 100 points band to end the month with a loss of 1.97% or 55.97 points at 2,786.16 points. On the broader market, the BAS (Brussels All Share) Price index lost 0.67% and the BAS Return index ended the month with a modest increase of 0.25% thanks to the stocks listed on the fixing segment. The Small Cap index increased by 4.07%. The prices of some individual stocks shooted up. Among them Arinso International , Pinguin and Socfin which rose by 51.41%, 25% and 23.80% respectively.
On 31 May 2001, the market capitalisation of domestic stocks listed on Euronext Brussels amounted to 166.53 billion EUR, of which 47,12% comes from the five biggest market capitalizations i.e. : Fortis (20.62 billion EUR), Dexia (17,13 billion EUR), Tractebel (15.50 billion EUR), KBC(12,71 billion EUR) and Electrabel (12,51 billion EUR).
In May the total turnover amounted to 4.33 billion EUR. The highest daily turnover was reached on 18 May, the day before Euronext Brussels migrated to the NSC System, when 450.80 million EUR was traded. The average daily turnover of May reached 196,80 million EUR. Last month, the total turnover for warrants equalled 35.54 million EUR or 163.969.596 warrants traded.
Fortis B took the lead again as the most heavily traded share, counting for a total turnover of 865.99 million EUR in May. Dexia, Delhaize, KBC and Electrabel followed with a turnover of respectively 533.26 million EUR, 424.86 million EUR, 308.94 million EUR and 279.11 million EUR.
The derivatives market
The volume of Euronext Brussels Derivatives Market totalled 201,559 traded contracts, a decrease of 29.4% compared to April. Compared to last month, the equity options on UCB (1,494 traded contracts, +240%), Delhaize (7,562 traded contracts, +83%) and Agfa-Gevaert (2,405 traded contracts, +82%) increased their volumes. End of May the open interest amounted to 1,118,222 contracts, a slight increase compared to 1,095,424 open contracts at the end of April.
