The total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) in October 2004 amounted to SIT 26.3 billion, which was 21.3% less than in September 2004 and 15.8% less than this year's monthly average. Compared to October 2003, the total turnover decreased iby 18.8% (SIT 6.1 billion).
In October 2004, shares accounted for 62.2% of turnover, bonds 22.1% and shares of investment funds 15.7%. There were no transactions in short-term securities. In comparison with last year's average, the turnover in shares rose by 5.7 percentage points, while that of bonds fell by exactly the same amount.
During the 21 trading days in October 21,859 transactions were concluded, or in average 1,041 trades per day. There were 347 transactions per day less than in September; in comparison with this year's average, however, there were 21.6% less trades concluded per day in October.
The average daily turnover in October equalled SIT 1.3 billion, which was 17.5% less than a month before. The average value of a single transaction was SIT 1,203 thousand, which was an increase of SIT 109 thousand compared to September 2004.
Block trading
The LJSE members reported 116 block transactions in October 2004, for a total value of SIT 13.0 billion, or 49.4% of the total monthly turnover, which was by 0.9 percentage points below the 2004 average. The average value of a single block transaction in October was SIT 112 million, while the average value of a single transaction without the block trades amounted to SIT 612 thousand.
Indices
The SBI 20, the official market index, lost 0.34% in October. Out of the 21 trading days in October, the index ended with a positive yield on 13 of them. During the first half of the month, the index lost 1.5% of its value and fell below 4,800 points. In the second part of the month, the SBI 20 mostly increased and finally ended the month only slightly below the value as at the end of September. Within the past twelve months, the index grew by 31.9%.
The IPT Index (Free Market Index) grew by 1.93% in the tenth month of the year. Very much like the SBI 20, also the IPT started the month poorly and dropped below 4,000 points on October 6. In the last week of the month, the index gained all that it had lost before and ended the month at its historic high (4,089.89 points). In the last 12 months, the IPT gained 29.59%
The Investment Funds Index - PIX - fell by 0.06% in October; effectively, its value did not change much in the past month. In view of individual trading days, it was only on October 6 when its value changed for more than 1%. Its average absolute daily change in October was 0.31%. Within the last twelve months, the PIX gained 41.4%.
In October, the Bond Index (BIO) rose by 0.59%; this was the second month running when the index gained relatively a lot in its value. In the last 12 months, the index increased by 2.8%. Three industrial sector indices of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange increased in value in October, very much like in September. The Transport Index did the best (1.0%); next were Trade (+ 0.9%) and Chemicals (+0.6%). The Oil and Gas Index (-1.9%) and Food and Beverages Indices (-1.7%), however, lost some of their values in the past month. Value as of 31 Oct 2004 4,822.53
Price movements of selected shares
On the official market of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, prices of twelve shares (out of the total of thirty) grew in October. The low liquid shares of Geodetski zavod Slovenije grew the most, by 25.0% in the past month. Only 6 transactions were concluded, in the total value of SIT 1.4 million. Among the more liquid shares, those of Intereuropa (+2.7%) and Aerodrom (+2.4%) gained the most. Prices of fifteen shares decreased in the past month. Shares of Comet lost the most in value (-12.7%) as well as Nika (-9.8%) and Salus (-7.8%).
Year-on-year the prices of twenty-six shares on the official market increased, in particular shares of the following companies: Aerodrom (+68.8%), Krka (+66.1%) and Mercator (+51.4%). Prices of four shares decreased, with Emona obala (-29.5%) in the lead, followed also by Comet (-25.0%) and Pivovarna Union (-12.7%).
Foreign investments
The net inflow of all non-residents' investments (direct and portfolio investments into shares and bonds, but without primary issues) totalled SIT 16,935.9 million in October; out of that, the outflow on the organised market amounted to SIT 590.8 million and the inflow on the off-the-organised market SIT 17,526.7 million. In October, foreign investors participated with 6.82% in the turnover structure of the organised LJSE market. The level of foreign ownership in shares of Slovene companies (according to the market capitalisation as at the last day of the month) reached 3.8% as at end October 2004. Among the shares with higher market capitalisation, the foreign ownership increased most notably during the past twelve months in Pivovarna Laško (+2.1 percentage points), Žito (+0.9 percentage points) and Luka Koper (+0.6 percentage points). In contrast, foreign ownership decreased the most in Droga (-18.8 percentage points), Istrabenz (-15.0 percentage points) and Merkur (-14.2 percentage points).
Market capitalization
On 31 October 2004, the total market capitalisation of all securities traded on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (including shares of investment funds - SIT 229.6 billion) amounted to SIT 2.961 billion, which was by SIT 64.3 billion or 2.2% more than a month before. The biggest growth was recorded by the bonds, in particular due to the admission of 2 new issues of government bonds and 3 new issues of bank bonds. Also the market capitalisation of shares increased, whereas that of investment funds decreased, especially because Maksima PID was reorganised into an ordinary joint-stock company.
Year-on-Year, the market capitalisation of shares on the official market increased from SIT 908.7 billion to SIT 1,210.1 billion (by 33.2%). In the same period of time, the market capitalisation of shares on the free market grew by 55.5%, from SIT 301.4 billion to SIT 468.6 billion. On 31 October 2004, the market capitalisation of all securities on the LJSE, without the investment funds (SIT 1,678.7 billion), represented 29.6% of the GDP in 2003 - SIT 5,671 billion (at current prices). Source: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
