In November 2001 the total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange was SIT 40.23 billion and reached the highest monthly value of the year. A record value was reached also by the total turnover of this year since it exceeded the record turnover of the year 2000. In the first eleven months of this year the total turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange amounted to SIT 302.06 billion, which was SIT 32.44 billion or 12% above the year 2000 figure.
In the structure of total turnover in November 2001 shares reached 75% of total turnover, followed by bonds and shares of investment funds with an equal share of 10.8% each. The share of short-term securities was 3%, the highest this year. The share of pension coupons was 0.5%. The share of the official market in the total turnover in November was 69.9%. The turnover of shares on the official market reached 85.4%of the total turnover of shares.
In 21 trading days of November 28,108 transactions were concluded. The average number of transactions per day in November was 1,338, almost 20% below the daily average in 2000. A total of 293,640 transactions were concluded this year, less than in the whole of last year, when close to 400,000 transactions were recorded. Hence the daily average turnover went up in November and amounted to SIT 1.9 billion. Similarly the average value of a single transaction was higher in November with SIT 1.4 million, far above the year 2000 average of SIT 680 thousand.
Block trading
119 block trades were reported in November 2001 with a total value of SIT 23.62 billion. That was 58.71% of the total monthly turnover and slightly above this year's monthly average of 54.8%. The average block trade has never been as high as in this November. It amounted to SIT 198.5 million.
In the first eleven months of this year the value of block trades amounted to SIT 169.47 billion (1,285 trades reported), representing 56.10% of the total turnover on the Exchange in the period under review.
Indices
In November the three representative stock exchange indices, the leading index SBI 20, the Free Market Index IPT and the Authorised Investment Funds Index PIX all reached their record values of this year. Their movements throughout the month were similar: a slight oscillation at the beginning of the month was followed by marked growth which continued until the end of the month.
The blue chip index SBI 20 reached its absolute record at the end of November. On 30 November it was at 2,129.8 points, reaching a 4.80% monthly return. The IPT Index recorded a 2.94% monthly return and on 30 November its record value of this year of 1,763.48 points. Similarly the Authorised Investment Funds Index - PIX went up 2.69% in November to reach its record value of this year,1,570.97 points.
The movements of the Bond Index - BIO differed slightly from those of the other indices as it returned to its record value of 110.1 points, recorded in this September, already at the beginning of November, then it slightly oscillated until the end of the month, ending at 109.8 points on 30 November.
All the Industrial Sector Indices recorded positive returns as well in November. The highest return was recorded by the index Transport with 8.82% and the three shares comprised in the index: Intereuropa, Luka Koper and Aerodrom gained between 7% and 10% in value. This was followed by the index Food and beverages with 7.03% growth, mainly contributed to by the shares of Pivovarna Union, whose price went up 17% last month. The index Pharmaceuticals grew 4.85% and Trade 4.02%. Out of all the stock exchange indices the lowest growth was recorded by the indices Chemicals -1.82% and Oil and gas - 0.64%.
Price movements of selected shares
Prices of twenty-seven shares out of a total of thirty-nine shares on the official market increased. The highest returns were recorded by shares of Koloniale Maribor (18.83%), Pivovarna union (16.68%), Živila Kranj (14.21%), Zdravilišèe Moravske Toplice (13.77%) and Gorenje Velenje (12.63%). About 10%in value was gained by the shares of Intereuropa (10.33%). Twenty-one shares gained between 0% and 10%in value, the price of one share remained the same and the value of eleven shares decreased .Among those the deepest drop was recorded by Tehnounion - by 20.7% and Geodetski zavod Slovenije (16.64%). Nine shares recorded a negative return of between 0% and 10%. The comparison of prices in one year 's time points to the shinning share of Banka Koper with a return of 202.57%. Less than 100% in value was gained by the shares of Pivovarna Union (86.93%), Istrabenz (82.40%), Kolinska (64.59%) and Intereuropa (51.07%).Twenty-three shares gained between 0% and 50% and eight shares recorded a negative return, the worse Tehnounion (59.39%) and Nika (50.76%).Three shares were not included in trading on the Exchange one year ago.
News of the month
November 2001 was a month of records on the Exchange. The highest monthly turnover in this year was reached and all three leading representative stock exchange indices, SBI 20, IPT and PIX reached their peak values of this year. SBI 20 also hit its absolute record value and the largest ever block trade was reported. The record block trade was concluded with shares of Banka Koper for which a bid was publicly announced by the Italian bank SanPaolo IMI. In November also an offer to buy the shares of Pivovarna Union was publicly announced by the Belgian company Interbrew. In addition to the increased interest of foreign investors in Slovene shares, the favourable nine-month results disclosed by the major listed companies, lead to an increase in turnover and growth in share prices.
The inflation rate (the cost of living index) in November grew by 0.4%. Compared with December 2000 the inflation rate was up 6.9%, the annual inflation rate was 7%.
On 30 November 2001 the Bank of Slovenia's middle exchange rate was SIT 220.7076 for 1 EUR (SIT 220.0727 one month ago and SIT 210.3236 on 30 November 2000) and SIT 248.0418 for 1 USD (SIT 244.8245 one month ago and SIT 243.6839 on 30 November 2000).
Foreign investments
In November the net inflow of all foreign investments (direct and portfolio investments in shares and bonds, except primary issues) amounted to SIT 21.7 billion, of which 21.5 billion was contributed by the off-the-organised market and only SIT 244.3 million by the organised market. The comparison with November 2000 shows a considerably higher net inflow this year, since last year only SIT 743.74 million of total net inflow was recorded.
Foreign investors accounted for 4.22% of the turnover of shares on the Exchange in November. The share of foreign ownership in the market capitalisation of shares on the Exchange was 8.91% at the end of October 2001. Foreign ownership reached its highest level in May 1998 -12.23%.
Market capitalization
On 30 November 2001 the total market capitalisation of securities, traded on the Exchange (including shares of investment companies - SIT 160.80 billion) amounted to SIT 1,353.79 billion . Compared to the previous month market capitalisation increased by 3.92% or SIT 51.06 billion as a result of price growth. Market capitalisation of shares grew the most - by 4.65%, of which shares on the official market grew by SIT 27.67 billion and shares on the free market by SIT 9.46 billion. Market capitalisation of shares of authorised investment funds increased by SIT 4.14 billion or 2.64% and of bonds SIT 9.41 billion or 2.75%.
Year on year market capitalisation of shares listed on the official market of the Exchange increased from SIT 502.4 billion to SIT 680.94 billion or by 35.54% and of shares on the free market by 9.03%, from SIT 141.94 billion to SIT 154.76 billion. On 30 November 2001, the market capitalisation of all shares traded on the Exchange (SIT 835.7 billion) made up 20.51% of GDP in the year 2000 - SIT 4,074 billion at current prices. (Source: Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia).
