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The total turnover on all market segments of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) in December 2004 amounted to SIT 51.4 billion, which was 55.0% more than in November 2004, or 55.5% more than the year’s monthly average. Compared to December 2003, the total turnover increased by 21.7% (SIT 9.1 billion). In December 2004, shares accounted for 58.3% of overall turnover, bonds 28.6% and shares of investment funds 13.1%. There were no transactions in short-term securities.
During the 22 trading days in December 32,063 transactions were concluded, an average of 1,457 trades per day. There were 423 transactions per day less than in November. In comparison with the year’s average, however, there were 5.3% more trades per day concluded in December.
The average daily turnover in December was SIT 2.3 billion, which was 48.0% more than the previous month and exceeded SIT 2 billion for the second time in a year. The average value of a single transaction was SIT 1.6 million, which was an increase of SIT 763 thousand compared to November 2004.
Block trading
LJSE members reported 168 block transactions in December 2004, a total value of SIT 30.0 billion, or 58.4% of the total monthly turnover, which was 8.8 percentage points above the 2004 average. The average value of a single block transaction in December was SIT 179 million, while the average value of a single transaction without the block trades amounted to SIT 671 thousand.
Indices
The SBI 20, the official market index, gained 1.31% in December. Out of the 22 trading days, the index ended with a positive yield on 13 of them but did not exceed its record value from November. Within the past twelve months, the SBI 20 grew by 24.7%.
The IPT Index (Free Market Index) grew by 1.34% in the twelfth month of the year. Its volatility in December ranked among the lowest in the year as its average daily change amounted to only 0.28%. In the last 12 months, the IPT Index gained 22.2%.
The Investment Funds Index - PIX - lost 1.30% in the last month of 2004. It had been losing value throughout the month and on 17 December its value again fell below 4,500 points. The PIX ended the year slightly above that value. Within the last twelve months, the PIX Index gained 33.9% and thus qualified for the most profitable LJSE index.
In December, the Bond Index (BIO) rose by 1.38%; it thus continued upwards. In the last 12 months, the index increased by 4.1%. In December, four LJSE industrial sector indices increased in value - the Oil and Gas Index did the best (+3.3%). It was followed by the Transport Index (+1.7%), the Chemicals (+1.1%) and the Trade Indices (+0.9%) while the Food and Beverages Index lost some of its value (-0.4%).
Price movements of selected shares
On the official market of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, prices of twenty shares (out of the total of twenty-nine) grew in December. Among the more liquid shares, those of Sava (+14.7%) did the best, with shares of Aerodrom (+9.5%) and Istrabenz (+9.1%) following. Prices of eight shares decreased in the past month. Shares of Mercator lost the most in value (-5.2%) as well as ‘ito (-3.5%) and Emona obala (-2.3%).
Year-on-year, prices of twenty-two shares on the official market increased during that period. Among those more liquid, shares of the following companies gained the most: Aerodrom (+97.5%), Krka (+61.9%) and Sava (+59.0%). Prices of seven shares decreased, with Emona obala (-37.9%) in the lead, followed also by Comet (-21.8%) and Pivovarna Union (-17.9%).
Foreign investments
The net inflow of all non-residents’ investments (direct and portfolio investments into shares and bonds, but without primary issues) totalled SIT 8.91 billion in December; out of that, the inflow on the organised market amounted to SIT 244.0 million and SIT 8.67 billion on the off-the-organised market. In December, foreign investors participated with 4.6% 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 4.5% as at end December 2004. Among the shares with higher market capitalisation, the foreign ownership increased most notably during the past twelve months in KD Group (+19.1 percentage points) and Triglav, finan~na dru‘ba (+5.6 percentage points. In contrast, foreign ownership decreased the most in Istrabenz (-19.2 percentage points), Droga (-19.1 percentage points) and Merkur (-14.2 percentage points).
Market capitalization
On 31 December 2004, the total market capitalisation of all securities traded on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (including shares of investment funds - SIT 237.4 billion) amounted to SIT 3,050 billion, which was SIT 66.3 billion or 2.2% more than the previous month. The highest growth was recorded by the bonds, in particular due to new admissions - by SIT 51.9 billion or 4.9%. The market capitalisation of shares increased (by 1,0%) while the market capitalisation of investment funds fell by 0.8%.
Year-on-year, the market capitalisation of shares on the official market increased from SIT 978.1 billion to SIT 1,232.9 billion (by 26.1%). In the same period of time, the market capitalisation of shares on the free market grew by 30.8%, from SIT 361.6 billion to SIT 472.9 billion. On 31 December 2004, the market capitalisation of all securities on the LJSE, without the investment funds (SIT 1,705.8 billion), represented 30.1% of the GDP in 2003 - SIT 5,671 billion (at current prices).
Source: The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia.
