The total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) in May 2004 amounted to SIT 38.8 billion, which was 4.8% less than in April 2004, or 36.7% more than last year's monthly average. In comparison with May 2003, the turnover doubled in size (+ SIT 20.1 billion).
In May 2004, shares accounted for 55.1% of overall turnover, bonds contributed 31.7% and shares of investment funds 13.1%. There were no transactions with short term securities. In the last month, the participation of bonds in the total turnover decreased again (-13.6 percentage points) and returned to the level of this year's average.
During the period of 21 trading days in May 26,991 transactions were concluded, or in average 1,285 trades per day; May thus witnessed a daily decrease by 386 transactions in comparison with April 2004. If compared to the last year's average, there were by 6.4% less concluded transactions in May.
The average daily turnover in May equalled SIT 1.8 billion, which has been the second highest result recorded this year. The average value of a single transaction was SIT 1,436 thousand and thus grew by SIT 218 thousand in comparison with April.
Block trading
The LJSE members reported 112 block transactions in May 2004, in the total value of SIT 21.8 billion, or 56.2% of the total monthly turnover, which was by 4 percentage points above the last year's average. The average value of a single block trade in May was SIT 195 million, while the average value of a single transaction without the block trades amounted to SIT 631 thousand.
Indices
The SBI 20, the official market index, lost 5.41% in May, the second month this year when the index decreased in value. During a period of eight days, the SBI 20 gained in value but mere 0.66% at its highest. However, the index managed to reach its record best in the beginning of the month; on the second trading day in May (4 May) it finished at its historical record high at 4,709.16 points. Within the past 12 months, the SBI 20 gained 39.5%.
In the fifth month of this year, the IPT Index (Free Market Index) dropped by 7.68%; it had been losing value steadily throughout the month and only finished seven trading days in the positive. The IPT has been the most volatile of the major LJSE indices. The steepest decline was registered on 18 May, when it lost 2.61% of its value. In the last 12 months, however, the index gained 37.47%.
The PIX Index (Investment Funds Index) decreased by 8.44% in May, which was the most notable loss of value among the LJSE indices. For the second month running, the index displayed great volatility, with the average daily change in value of 0.78%. During the last trading days of the month, the index again came close to the level of 4,000 points, which had been first exceeded on 22 March 2004. Within the past twelve months, the PIX gained 55.50%.
The Bond Index (BIO) declined by 0.06% in May, with its value further changing only at a very slow pace; in average, no more than by 0.1% per day. In the last twelve months, the BIO gained 3.4%.
In May, all five industrial sector indices of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange experienced a decrease in value, with shares contained in the Oil and Gas Index in the lead (-8.57%). Other indices did only slightly better - the value of the Transport Index fell by 5.91%, of Trade by 5.15%, Chemicals by 4.42% while the value of shares in the Food and Beverages Index dropped by 3.67%.
Price movements of selected shares
On the official market of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, prices of nine shares (out of the total of thirty-two) increased in May, among them, in particular, low-liquid shares of Živila Kranj and Pivovarna Union (+25.34% and +4.22% respectively). With more traded shares, the highest growth was recorded by those of Merkur (+3.39%). Prices of twenty-two shares fell during the past month. Shares of Aerodrom lost the most in value (- 11.75%); more than a 10% loss in value was also registered in the shares of Gorenje (-11.01%).
Year-on-year, prices of twenty-six shares on the official market increased during that period, above all shares of Aerodrom (+88.27%), Nika (+81.93%) and Luka Koper (+69.62%). Prices of six shares decreased, among them those of Comet (-15.95%), Terme 3000 (-10.68%) and Pivovarna Union (-8.49%).
Foreign investments
The net inflow of all non-residents' investments (direct and portfolio investments into shares and bonds, without primary issues) totalled SIT 3,171.5 million in May; out of that, the outflow on the organised market amounted to SIT 431.4 million, and the inflow on the off-theorganised market SIT 3,602.8 million. In May, the foreign investors participated with 5.63% in the turnover structure of shares on the organised LJSE market. The level of foreign ownership in shares of Slovenian companies (according to the market capitalisation as at the last day of the month) reached 4.74% in May 2004. Among the shares with significant market capitalisation, the foreign ownership increased most notably during the past 12 months in LIV Postojna (+71.75 percentage points), Aktiva Invest (+13.47 percentage points) and KD Group (+8.08 percentage points). On the other hand, foreign ownership decreased the most in Merkur (-19.57 percentage points), Droga (-18.7%) and Juteks (-14.1 percentage points).
Market capitalization
On 31 May 2004, the total market capitalisation of all securities traded on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (including shares of investment funds - SIT 219.13 billion) amounted to SIT 2,692 billion, which was by SIT 113.1 billion or by 4.0% less than a month before. With regard to April 2003, the market capitalisation of bonds was the only one on the increase (+0.33%), while the capitalisation of shares dropped by 5.87% and that of shares of investment funds by 8.86%.
Year-on-year, the market capitalisation of shares on the official market increased from SIT 808.06 billion to SIT 1,105.29 billion (by 36.78%). In the same period of time, the market capitalisation of shares on the free market increased by 63.49%, from SIT 254.08 billion to SIT 415.40 billion. On 31 May 2004, the market capitalisation of all securities traded on LJSE, without the investment funds (SIT 1,520.69 billion), represented 26.82% of the GDP in 2003 - SIT 5,671 billion (at current prices). Source: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia on the exchange
