In April the demand for shares was falling more rapidly than the supply, therefore the demand/supply ratio went up to 3.9 and was the same as during the last quarter of the previous year. If in the first half of the month it was only during one trading session that the share turnover on the central market fell below LTL 2m, after April 19 the number of share transactions reduced and only during two central market sessions climbed over this threshold. The turnover of the Current List shares on the central market was analogous to that in March, while that of the Official List decreased. However, the trading volume of shares on the central market, albeit lower than in the previous months, remained quite substantial (LTL 46.8m), because of the active trading in shares of the companies Apranga AB, Vilniaus Vingis AB, Lietuvos Telekomas AB, Mazeikiu Nafta AB, Zemaitijos Pienas AB.
The number of winning and losing companies was almost the same, but due to the fall in share prices of the dominant companies, Lietuvos Telekomas AB, Lietuvos Dujos AB, Vilniaus Vingis AB and a few less liquid companies, in April the values of the Exchange indices LITIN and LITIN-10 went slightly down. The index LITIN-G retained the value of the end of March.
April can be singled out as the month of the lowest turnover of T-bills in the last few years, which amounted to only as much as LTL 81.5 million, while share trading generated LTL 208.2m, or 71% of the total turnover. It was the largest turnover this year and one of the largest monthly turnovers in the last few years. The lion's share, 66% of this volume, fell to the execution of the tender offer to purchase shares of Vakaru Skirstomieji Tinklai AB. In April the turnover of securities totaled LTL 290 million.
Year to date turnover of shares amounted to LTL 630m, or 6% up on the whole volume of 2003 (in 2003, the share turnover was LTL 594.11m). As of April 30, the total turnover on the Exchange has already reached LTL 1,237m, or 63% of the total turnover of securities last year (in 2003, the total turnover was LTL 1,980m).
The Annual General Meeting of the NSEL shareholders, held on 29 April, approved the company's Annual Report 2003, the profit appropriation and the new wording of the company's Articles of Association. The AGM resolved to pay out LTL 595 per share in dividend.
OMHEX, the operator of Northern Europe's largest marketplace, is conducting negotiations with the State Property Fund of Lithuania about acquisition of a 54.47% holding in the National Stock Exchange of Lithuania and a 32% holding in the Central Securities Depository of Lithuania. The operator has already obtained a permit from the Lithuanian Securities Commission to acquire up to 100% of the shares in the National Stock Exchange of Lithuania under privatization.
