During September trading in securities was dynamic and irrational as was the case in the second and third quarters. It would be very unfavourable to compare the exceptional trading volumes in September of the previous year (LTL 361 m total and LTL 281 m equity), caused by the block acquisition of Maþeikiø Nafta AB (oil refinery) by Yukos Finance B.V. from Williams International Company, with the trading volumes last September. However, both total volume of securities trading (LTL 186 m) and share trading (LTL 65 m) were among the highest this year.
Similarly to the last few months, in September trading in securities on the central market (LTL 49 m) was stable Πthere was only one session that recorded the trading volume under one million litas, and only three had it under LTL 1.5 m. The investors were interested in almost all companies on the Exchange trading lists Πthe turnover of 13 company shares climbed over the threshold of one million litas, while the Exchange indices during the first decade in September reached the highest values of the 52 weeks.
Market analysts think that the price corrections during the last decade of the month were the result of large investors moving away from the market with the retail investors failing to keep up the demand, which explains why the shares falling in price outnumbered those the price of which was rising.
At the end of September, 16 shares were offered at a lower price than at the beginning of the month; the indices LITIN-10 and LITIN-G augmented only by 5%, while LITIN went down almost that much. Among the most attractive companies were those that forecast high operating profits, namely, Rokiðkio Sûris AB, Maþeikiø Nafta AB, Snaigë AB, Vilniaus Baldø Kombinatas AB, energy companies under privatisation as well as Klaipëdos Nafta AB and Invalda KIB, both undergoing reorganisation.
Trading in Government Securities was also more active than before; it amounted to LTL 120 m, which is 1.5 times higher than in August.
Share trading during the third quarter increased by one quarter and totalled LTL 210 m; turnover of Government Securities was by 35%, and total turnover by 19% (LTL 495 m) lower than during the second quarter of the year. During the third quarter capitalisation of listed shares and the indices LITIN-10 and LITIN-G soared by 30%. The weight of the Official List index LITIN went up by 18%. During the nine months of the year the trading volume of securities was analogous to that of the same period last year; it amounted to LTL 1.5 billion, where share trading accounted for 30%.
