October: IT Fever On Oslo Stock Exchange

November was an unusually good month on world stockmarkets. With IT shares in the driving seat, historical records were set at several US and European bourses. In Norway too IT shares were all the rage. Our IT index climbed 26.2 per cent to reach a new historical peak while the all-share index rose 7.3 per cent. So far this year the IT index has risen 63 per cent, inspired by the popularity of IT shares on US and Nordic stockmarkets. While warnings against overvalued US IT shares are frequently heard, their rise is apparently unstoppable. In November the US high-tech Nasdaq bourse climbed 12.5 per cent bringing the rise so far this year to 52.2 per cent. This compares with the 13 per cent advance by the Standard & Poor index in the first 11 months of the year. The blue chip Dow Jones Industrial has climbed 18.5 per cent. Nordic IT shares are said to be cheap compared with equivalent US shares. In November some ground was made up. Internet enthusiasm left its mark on the Stockholm bourse, sending the general index up 11.6 per cent. Nokia is growing apace and the market value of this Finnish company is now the second highest in Europe. Thanks to Nokia the Finnish general index rose 24.5 per cent in November and 102.5 per cent so far this year. The biggest European bourses are lagging behind their Nordic counterparts. The FTSE 100 rose 5.5 per cent in November, the German DAX index 6.7 per cent. So far this year these two indexes have risen 12.2 and 17.9 per cent respectively. In the US IT shares were the only ones to excel in November with the Dow Jones rising 1.4 per cent and Standard & Poor 500 1.9 per cent. Since New Year our all-share index has climbed 33.7 per cent. Among the bigger bourses only those in Asia, Stockholm, Paris and Helsinki have performed better. A steadily growing number of IT companies are surpassing the traditional bourse locomotives´ market values. Netcom is now the fifth largest Norwegian company on the Oslo Stock Exchange after strong profit growth and speculation regarding a takeover bid pushed the share up by 28.7 per cent in November. Merkantildata advanced 24.8 per cent, climbing from 13th to 10th place on the list of the biggest companies. However, other companies are moving up the list even more rapidly. EDB Business Partner is among the November price winners with a rise of 69.1 per cent. Its market value grew by NOK 2 billion to NOK 4.8 billion and it now compares in size to Dyno and Hafslund. With a November rise of 31.4 per cent Opticom has climbed 557 per cent so far this year, and only 19 Norwegian companies are now bigger in terms of market value. The strongest price rise is to be found among the smallest IT companies. Logisoft and Techmar Technologies both jumped a good 130 per cent in November. The Itera share gained 81.8 per cent in value, while Provida put on 66.7 per cent. Among the somewhat larger IT companies on November´s winner list we find the consultants Avenir and the software manufacturer Agresso. Agresso fell substantially earlier this year but rebounded in the autumn, rising 109.4 per cent in November. The market value of IT shares on the SMB list accounts for one-half of the market value of this list. The SMB list was thus the sub-index which rose by the biggest margin in November - 15.5 per cent - and the high proportion of IT companies has ensured a rise of 51.3 per cent in the SMB index so far this year. The market value of shipping shares on the Main List fell 0.6 per cent in November. Bergesen was one the main contributors with a drop of 5.9 per cent. Leif Høegh (8.7 per cent down) and Frontline (4.1 per cent down) also played a part. The seismic company TGS Nopec and the pleasure cruise company NCL saved the shipping index from falling in November. TGS Nopec rose 33.3 per cent after announcing good 3rd quarter figures. The issue of Kreditkassen and Norwegian banking structure seems unlikely to be resolved for a while yet. Kreditkassen fell 2.6 per cent in November to NOK 37.20, i.e. NOK 6.80 lower than MeritaNordbanken´s offer, thereby holding back the financial index. So far this year the financial index has crept up 20.9 per cent and is the weakest index. Shares and primary capital certificates worth NOK 2.2 billion changed hands daily in November. So far this year the volume traded averages NOK 1.7 billion daily compared with last year´s figure of NOK 1.3 billion. If activity continues at this level to year-end, turnover will approach NOK 430 billion. The full-year record from 1997 is set to be surpassed by about NOK 90 billion. Turnover records in the derivative market were also topped some time ago. In November 13,628 contracts changed hands daily. Norsk Hydro contracts were the most popular share option. Although Norges Bank refrained from lowering its key interest rates for the second month running, short rates nonetheless dropped appreciably with the three-month interbank rate falling 0.51 percentage point to 5.88 per cent. The fall is mainly related to reduced uncertainty ahead of the turn of the millennium. At the same time it is widely hoped that Norges Bank will lower interest rates in the months ahead. Both Norwegian and European rates ended November at the same level as in October. US rates have crept up, however, one reason being fears that the high oil price could kindle quickening inflation. Four companies disappeared from our lists in November: Norcool, Siem Industries, Media Holding and Finansbanken. Up to now 28 companies have been delisted, in most cases due to takeovers. The number of listed companies has fallen from 236 to 216.