In April 2001 the total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange amounted to SIT 17.51 billion, which was SIT 530 million less than the month before and SIT 730 million above the April 2000 figure. In the first four months of this year the total turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange reached SIT 87.56 billion, which was 0.3% or SIT 250 million more than a year before.
The highest share in the structure of total turnover was reached by shares with 57.30%, followed by bonds with 23.33% and shares of investment funds with 18.78%. Turnover of bonds gained a good 30% in April compared with the previous month, particularly on account of declining shares of investment funds, which were down 18%. The turnover of pension coupons was SIT 55.7 million or 0.64% of the total turnover – half of the size and share of the previous month. The turnover of T-bills in April was SIT 50 million. The share of the official market in total turnover in April was 66.37% (in March 59.87%). The turnover of shares on the official market made up 50.96% (in March 77.29%)of the total turnover of shares.
The average number of transactions per day in April was 1,251 or 23,778 transactions in 19 trading days, which was below the 2000 daily average of transactions by almost one fifth. The declining number of transactions in April was mostly caused by the lower number of transactions with shares of investment funds. The average number of transactions with shares of investment funds was 722 per day (in March 917), for company shares the figures were 449 vs.509 in March or 35.88% of the total number of transactions. After the lowest average daily turnover in six months in March, the April figure was up SIT 60 million to SIT 921.75 million. The year 2000 average was SIT 1.08 billion. The average value of a single transaction in April was SIT 737 thousand. That was above the average single transaction of SIT 680 thousand in the year 2000. In April 1,840,138 company shares changed hands and the number of shares of investment funds traded was 72,754,807.
Block trading
102 block trades were reported in April 2001 with a total value of SIT 9.33 billion. That was 53.29% of the total monthly turnover and was below the year 2000 average of 57.7%. In the first four months of this year the value of block trades amounted to SIT 47.89 billion ,representing 54.70% of the total turnover on the Exchange in that period. The average block trade in April was SIT 91.5 million, the lowest average level in the last six months.
The most traded shares on all market segments of the Exchange (including block trades)were shares of the companies Krka, Lek,Sava, Petrol and Mercator, together representing 56.52% of the turnover of shares in April. The most traded bonds in April were again bonds of 2nd issue of Slovenska odškodninska dru?ba and 12 th issue of bonds of the Republic of Slovenia, which combined represented 35% of the total turnover of bonds on the Exchange. Five most traded shares of PIDs, including block trades,(Triglav Steber II,Infond Zlat, NFD 2,Zvon ena and Atena Ena) represented 65,4% of the turnover of shares of PIDs in April. In the same month ten most active Exchange members concluded 64.65% of the total turnover. The most active members were Perspektiva BPD,PM&A BPD,Probanka,Mariborska BPH and Poteza.
Indices
The Slovenian Stock Exchange Index - SBI 20
At the end of April the blue chip index SBI 20 was at 1,701.99 points, down 1.54%compared with 1,728.68 points at the end of March 2001. The decline in March was as high as 4.41%. Contrary to the month before the index increased in the first half of the month, growing 2.02% by 12 April to its highest monthly value of 1,763.66 points. It then continued to depreciate, bottoming to the lowest monthly level of 1,700.24 points on 25 April. This value was also the lowest since 6 November 2000. In 19 trading days the index gained eleven times with the highest daily growth of 0.61% recorded on 6 April. The strongest daily drop of 2.06%occurred on 25 April.
The Non-weighted Slovenian Stock Exchange Index – SBI 20NT
The performance of the SBI 20NT index was similar in movement to the weighted SBI 20 index since the beginning of its calculation on 1 July 2000. In April the value of the index SBI 20NT decreased by 0.86% from 1,7061.73 to 1,692.01 points. The average daily changes of the index were slightly lower compared with the weighted index, it reached between 0.01%and 1.75%.
The Free Market Index – IPT
In April 2001 the IPT index was the one with the highest negative return of 2.41% among indices of companies’ shares. It mostly followed the trend of the leading Exchange index SBI 20 and reached the highest value on 11 April. Then it started declining and continued, with short interruptions, during the rest of the month. The negative trend was the strongest in the last trading days of the month. The index recorded its highest daily growth of 0.97% on 6 April. Its most severe daily drop was recorded on 12 April, when it fell by 1.9%.It ended the month at 1,439.40 points.
The Authorised Investment Funds Index – PIX
In April the PIX index fell by 3.68% from 1,460.81 to 1,407.07 points. Until 14 March the index continued to drop to reach 1,409.85 points, its minimum value of the month. For the rest of the month its value mostly grew, but with less intensity. In 19 trading days the index gained only five times with the highest daily growth of 2.25% recorded on the last trading day of the month. That pulled up the index from the lowest point of 1,376.17 in April. The highest daily drop of 0.99%occurred on 24 April.
The Stock Exchange Bond Index – BIO
At the end of April 2001 the Bond Index BIO was at 109.15 points, up 0.42% compared to 108.69 at the end of March. The index has recorded the smallest changes in value among the Exchange ’s indices. Also in March its highest daily change was 0.34%.
Industrial Sector Indices
After two consecutive monthly drops of all six indices the story was different in April. Three indices gained in value: index of Oil and gas by 1.84%, index Trade by 1.28% and index Transport by 1.17%. The remaining three industrial sector indices lost between 0.10% (index Chemicals)and 1.56% (index Pharmaceuticals). Index Food and beverages lost 0.44%.
Price movements of selected shares
Prices of twenty-two shares out of a total of forty-two shares on the official market fell during April and prices of eighteen shares on the official market increased. The prices of two shares remained unchanged in one-month period. The deepest drop was recorded by SKB Banka – 30%%. Four shares recorded a drop of between 10% and 20%, among them Radenska 20.62%, Comet 17.98%, Kovinotehna -ordinary shares 14.29% and Delo-Sales 11.95%. Six shares lost between 3% and 10%. The highest price growth rate in April was recorded by shares of the company Kompas MTS and bank Banka Koper (about 10%). Ordinary shares of NIKA (6.03%) and Emona obala Koper (5.6%) achieved a return of over 5%. Monthly return of the rest of the shares on the official market of the Exchange was below 4%.
Comparison of prices over the past year offers a similar picture as the changes presented above. The value of seventeen listed shares increased – among them Banka Koper with the highest rise of close to 67% and company Mlinotest with more than 45%. Ordinary shares of the SKB Banka and the company Lek gained 22% and 23% respectively. The value of twenty shares fell – shares of Nika plunged by more than 60%%. Steep drops were recorded also by shares of Radenska (52%), Gradbeno podjetje Grosuplje,civil engineering and Kovinotehna (preferred) both lost in value more than 20%.Five shares were not included in trading on the Exchange twelve months ago.
Foreign investments
In April the net inflow of all foreign investments (direct and portfolio investments in shares and bonds, except primary issues) remained on the same,marginal level as the March figures. The net inflow amounted to SIT 82.1 million, of which 79.7 million was contributed by the off-the-organised market while the organised market recorded SIT 2.4 million of inflow. Comparison with April 2000 is unfavourable, despite the net inflow, since SIT 187 million of total net inflow was recorded in that month. Foreign investors accounted for barely 0.74%of the turnover of shares on the Exchange market in April.
The share of foreign ownership in the market capitalisation of shares on the Exchange was 7.74% at the end of March 2001.Foreign ownership reached its highest level in May 1998 -12.23%.
Capitalisation
On 30 April 2001 the total market capitalisation of securities, traded on the Exchange (including shares of investment companies – SIT 147..25 billion) amounted to SIT 1,123.87 billion, which was SIT 0.5 billion or 0.04 % less than the month before. Market capitalisation of listed shares recorded a drop of SIT 7.85 billion (or 1.4%), mainly due to share price drop. Market capitalisation of shares on the free market remained more or less unchanged, of shares of authorised investment funds decreased by SIT 5 billion (3.3%). Capitalisation of bonds increased -listed bonds went up SIT 10.8 billion and bonds on the free market gained SIT 2.6 billion due to new listings.
The market capitalisation of shares listed on the official market of the Exchange increased from SIT 494.8 billion to SIT 553.8 billion or by 11.92% on a year on year basis. The capitalisation of shares on the free market decreased in the same period by 7.72%. On 30 April 2001,the market capitalisation of all shares traded on the Exchange (SIT 677.99 billion) made up 16.64%of GDP in the year 2000 –SIT 4,074 billion at current prices. (Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia).
