In February 2002 the total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange reached SIT 30.66 billion, which was SIT 600 million more than in January and SIT 1 billion above last year 's average. Compared to February 2001 the turnover was up 64%. In the structure of total turnover in February 2002 shares made up 47.9%,bonds 27.8% and shares of investment funds 23.6% of total turnover. No short-term securities transactions were recorded while pension coupons participated with a 0.7% share. Compared to the month before the turnover structure changed significantly as the share of PIDs increased from 9% to 23.6%. As a result the share of the official market in the total turnover in February declined. It represented only 57.24% (in January 77.9%) of the total turnover on the Exchange. Turnover of shares on the official market reached 77.1%of the total turnover of shares.
In 19 trading days in February 31,763 transactions were concluded, which meant an average of 1,672 transactions per day .Compared to the last year 's average of 1,296 transactions per day the February figure represented a 29% increase. Compared to last month 's daily average transactions it meant 111 more transactions per day. The increase was due to growing number of transactions with PIDs - 926 per day compared to 594 in January or a 56% increase.
The average daily turnover in February was above last year 's average by 14% and amounted to SIT 1.6 billion .The average value of a single transaction was SIT 965 thousand, slightly below the last year's average of SIT 1 million The value of a single transaction was SIT 49 thousand more than in February 2001.
Block trading
In February 2002 Exchange members reported 131 block trades with a total value of SIT 17.6 billion. That was 57.6% of the o al turnover in February, close to the last year 's average of 55.2% and considerably above the 34.3% of the month before. The average value of a single block trade was SIT 135 million, while the average single transaction, excluding block trades, was SIT 411 thousand.
The most traded securities and the members'volume of trading
In February all five most traded shares, including block trades,were shares from the official market of the Exchange: Petrol, Lek, Gorenje, Krka and Pivovarna Laško.They represented 68% of the turnover of shares in February 2002 and one fourth of the total turnover on the Exchange. A significant decline in turnover was registered by the share of Pivovarna Union, which only the month before had been the most traded share (SIT 3.4 billion),while the figure for February was a mere SIT 17 million. Among the most traded bonds in February were again bonds of the 2nd issue of Slovenska odškodninska družba with 27%. Followed three bond issues of the Republic of Slovenia: 9th , 7th and 4th together representing one third of the total turnover of bonds. mong the most traded shares of PIDs were the shares of Zlata moneta 2 (SIT 1.8 billion) and Triglav steber 1 (SIT 1.4 billion) which exceeded SIT 1 billion.In January only shares of Infond Zlat exceeded SIT 0.5 billion of monthly turnover. In February ten most active Exchange members concluded 63.2% of the total turnover of members, exactly the same as in January. The most active were: Abanka, Probanka and Nova Ljubljanska banka, together representing 28% of the turnover on the Exchange.
Indices
February 2002 was marked by rising leading stock exchange indices. The blue chip index SBI 20 was very stable and recorded a 0.5% growth ,but did not exceed the record high from the previous month. It reached its maximum value of 2,250 points on 6 February and ended the month at about 2,200 points. The IPT Index rose by 4.5%. For the first time in its history the index exceeded 1,900 points and reached a high of 1,980.90 points on 14 February. By the end of the month its value dropped and firmed at 1,940 points.
The steepest growth was recorded by Authorised Investment Funds Index PIX. In February its value went up by 7.4%. On 19 February it reached its high of 1,773.32 points and later declined to 1,750 points.
In the last twelve months all three indices recorded high yields. Compared to 28 February 2001 the value of IPT grew the most (32%), followed by SBI 20 (22% and PIX (18%).
The Bond Index BIO recorded a negative yield also in February (-0,7%). In the last year the BIO index dropped 1%in value. It was interesting to observe the unexpected decline in bond prices on the market despite the cut in bank interest rates.
Contrary to January in February the indices did not move in harmony. The correlation of PIX with SBI 20 was negative and with IPT very low (0.32). The movements of IPT and PIX remained very balanced (correlation was 0.76 in February).
All of the six Industrial Sector Indices grew in value in February except for the index Food and beverages, which lost 3.7% .The highest rise was recorded by Transport with 3.5%; followed by Trade (2.8%), Pharmaceuticals (1.9%), Chemicals (0.5%) and Oil and gas (1.4%). Most of the movements was a result of expected company results. The index Food and beverages was influenced by the declining share of Pivovarna Union.
Price movements of selected shares
Prices of twenty-three shares out of a total of thirty-nine shares on the official market increased in February. Over the month the price of Nika rose the most -45.9%. The price reached its high on 13 February but alongside a very low trading volume. The second high riser in February was the share of Gradbeno podjetje Grosuplje, which gained 16% in one month. The remaining two shares which exceeded a 10% growth in February were the shares of Geodetski zavod Slovenije (+15%) and Kompas MTS (+10%). Except for the latter, the shares grew alongside a very low trading volume.The value of sixteen shares decreased in the last month.The deepest drop was recorded by the share of Banka Koper, which after the expiry date of the takeover bid by the bank SanPaolo IMi fell from SIT 96,010 (20 February) to SIT 66,000 (28 February 2002). One fifth of value was dropped by the shares of SKB banka and Pivovarna Union. Both shares lost in value alongside very low trading volumes.The comparison of prices iover the past year, which is best used for analysing the yield of shares, shows that the value of thirty-two shares on the official market increased .The biggest gainers were the shares of Istrabenz (+72%), Banka Koper (+63%) and Intereuropa (+58%). The price growth was related to the sale of shareholding interest in Banka Koper.The value of seven shares fell. The worst drop was recorded by the shares of SKB banka (-58,6%)and Tehnounion (-44,1%).The remaining shares which lost in value in the last year were:Koloniale Maribor (-7.6%), Kompas MTS (-5.9%)and Žito (-3%).
Foreign investments
Net inflow of all foreign investments (direct and portfolio investments in shares and bonds, except primary issues)amounted to SIT 2,004.4 million (SIT 8,760.2 million in January), of which organised market contributed SIT 565.6 million and off-the-organised market SIT 1,438.9 million.Foreign investors accounted for 7.44% of the turnover of shares on the Exchange in February. Foreign ownership participated with 10.8% in the market capitalisation of shares on the Exchange at the end of January 2002.Foreign ownership reached its highest level in May 1998 -12.23%.
Market capitalization
On 28 February 2002 the total market capitalisation of securities traded on the Exchange (including shares of investment companies - SIT 179.23 billion) reached SIT 1,481 billion , which was SIT 36 billion or 2.5% more than the previous month. The highest rise was recorded by market capitalisation of investment companies (+7%)and bonds (+6%).While the increased capitalisation of investment companies was due to price growth, bonds capitalisation was due to the increased number of listed bonds. Capitalisation of shares remained on the last month's level and capitalisation of pension coupons decreased by 9%.
Over the past year the market capitalisation of shares listed on the official market increased from SIT 588.3 billion to SIT 700 billion (by 19%), and the capitalisation of shares on the free market by 37% from SIT 126.5 billion to SIT 173.6 billion. On 28 February 2002 market capitalisation of all shares traded on the Exchange (SIT 873.3 billion) represented 21.4% of GDP for the year 2000 - SIT 4,074 billion at current prices.(Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia). Market capitalisation represents 19.2%of estimated GDP for the year 2001 - SIT 4,540 billion at current prices. (Source: Office for macroeconomic research).
