Past year invigorated the Estonian securities market

13.01.2006 TLN

After a six-year interlude, the shares of three new companies were listed on the Tallinn Stock Exchange last year. In cooperation with the Financial Supervision Authority, the Corporate Governance Recommendations were prepared and the founding of the Estonian Investors’ Union was supported. The Vilnius Stock Exchange joined the common trading system and settlement links to the Lithuanian and Finnish depositories were opened. This year will be at least as active, according to the Stock Exchange’s estimations, as the past one.

The number of securities accounts increased to 87,807 during the year (annual growth 30%), and the number of stock exchange transactions increased by 106% (41,291 transactions compared to 20,047 transactions in 2004). The number of investors performing at least 5 stock exchange transactions amounted to 2 434. The stock exchange turnover reached MEUR 1 941 in Tallinn last year (increase by 190% when compared to 2004). The index OMX Tallinn increased to 664.08 points during the year (annual growth 48%) and the Baltic securities market index BALTIX hit 604.54 points by the turn of the year (annual growth 44%).

“The year 2005 was very progressive and active in the Estonian securities market. The entry of new companies in the Stock Exchange, new impetus to investor education and protection, discussion about good trading practice and continuing economic growth provide grounds for rapid development in the future. This year, we will certainly continue our work on the Corporate Governance Recommendations (CGR). The CGR entered into force on 1 January 2006, which means that the listed companies should now review their reporting system and adjust it to the CGR. Supervision must also be appropriate to the market,” said Kaidi Oone, a management board member of the Tallinn Stock Exchange.

Trading between the Baltic States also picked up. The number of cross-border securities transfers between Estonia and Latvia was 2 384 (annual growth 810%), while transfers between Estonia and Lithuania amounted to 6 658 since June 2005. The share of fund and other institutional investors in trading increased. This is vividly illustrated by the growing average volume of transactions, which was EUR 47,002 in 2005 (growth 40.8%).

“Of the new developments planned for this year, we first intend to launch the Fund Centre — a centralised web site that will provide information about the Baltic States and the investment fund opportunities available here. It is our goal to enable investors to select the investment fund that best suits their needs and to offer the fund management companies an opportunity to be visible and comparable with others. Another important development is the activation of the free market. The year 2005 showed that there are definitely more applicants for the free market than only the privatisation voucher,” added Kaidi Oone.

The investment of private assets in funds continued to increase (annual growth 100%), making up nearly one-third of the total fund volume. The total volume of investment funds was MEUR 502 at the end of the year. At the end of 2005, as many as 11,546 private persons owned funds, which is 74% more than a year before.

The statistical overview of the OMX markets (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius) in 2005 is available at the address www.ee.omxgroup.com, subdivision Väärtpaberiturust -> Trükised -> OMX Exchanges statistika. The overview is in English.

Statistics concerning the Tallinn Stock Exchange can be found at: http://www.ee.omxgroup.com/press/ and http://market.ee.omxgroup.com/ Statistika subdivision.