Estonian Securities Market in the first quarter of 2008

16.04.2008 TLN

“For the Tallinn Stock Exchange, the most important strategic event of the beginning of the year was the merger of majority owner OMX with Nasdaq, as a result of which, the Tallinn Stock Exchange is now a part of NASDAQ OMX, the largest group of publicly traded companies in the world. Although an immediate effect cannot be expected from this step, in the longer term it will definitely affect the attractiveness of the Baltic region stock exchange market and increase the global visibility of the companies listed here,” Andrus Alber, Chairman of the Management Board of the Tallinn Stock Exchange commented on the event.

In March, the Baltic stock exchanges of NASDAQ OMX were joined by Instinet Europe Limited – a global broker company that provides electronic trade opportunities on more than 80 stock exchange markets over the world, now including the Baltic markets as well.

The global downward trend in stock markets has also affected the investment habits of Estonians, and the total number of investors has dropped by almost 3% from the beginning of the year. If at the end of last year, the volumes of investment funds reached MEUR 647, of which MEUR 157 was made up by investments of private persons, then in the first quarter of this year, the volumes decreased by approximately 20%, amounting to MEUR 506, the volume of investments by private persons being MEUR 121.

The index OMX Tallinn also started the new year with a drop, reaching the lowest level at 627.22 points on 29 February. The drop was followed by a small adjustment, but altogether, the index OMX Tallinn decreased by 14%, down to 638.47 points in the first quarter. The benchmark index OMX Baltic Benchmark (OMXBBCAPGI) dropped by 14.91% down to 473.28 points.

In the first quarter of the current year, 20 256 stock exchange transactions were made on the Tallinn Stock Exchange, with the average value of a transaction being 7670 Euros. The turnover of the Tallinn Stock Exchange in the first quarter was MEUR 155.

As at the end of March, 6650 companies were registered in the Estonian Central Securities Depository. If the number of registered public limited companies decreased slightly when compared to last year, then the registration of private limited companies remained at the same level when compared to the same period in 2007. As at the end of March, 1647 private limited companies are registered in the central register. The value of the securities registered at the Estonian Central Securities Depository amounts to more than EUR 8.7 billion.