Graduates
There were 3 graduates to the Toronto Stock Exchange in October 2002. The total number of YTD graduates has increased to 21. This represents 21% of the senior market's new listings this year compared to 31% for the same period last year.
Financing
As of October 31, there were 1,603 financing deals on the TSX venture market that raised a total of $1.15 billion, an increase of 21% from the same time last year of $947.5 million through 1,307 financing deals.
The average size of each financing is the same as last year at $0.72 million. The Mining sector continued to lead the way in financing, raising a total of $423.9 million (representing 37%). The Oil & Gas sector followed closely with $319.9 million financing (representing 28%). The Technology sector captured 13% of the financing with $152.8 million raised as of the end of October 2002.
Through a combination of 5 financing deals in October 2002, International Hi-Tech Industries Inc raised a total of $12.1 million. High Point Resources Inc. was next, raising $8.0 million through a private placement. VOXCOM Incorporated completed the largest single deal so far this year, raising $35.9 million through a private placement in July 2002.
New Listings
There were 6 new listings in the month of October, bringing the YTD total to 73. New listings declined 54% compared to the same period last year. (This excludes the 108 Montreal Exchange transfers in October 2001).
The Capital Pool program generated 51% of the new listings. 22% of the new listings were in the mining sector and 5% were in the oil & gas sector.
Regional breakdown of new listings is as follow: BC (27%), Alberta (34%), Saskatchewan & Manitoba (3%), Ontario (16%), Quebec (14%), Atlantic Canada (3%) and Foreign (3%).
Index
The S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index closed at 914.69 on October 31, 2002. This represented a decrease of 12% since the beginning of 2002. This compares favourably with other North American indices: S&P/TSX Composite Index is down 19%, the NASDAQ Composite is down 32% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 16%.
