PODGORICA (Montenegro), March 1 (SeeNews) – Hotel operator Budvanska riviera [MNG:BUDR] led the blue-chip gainers on the Montenegrin stock exchange in February, as stock indices rose, bourse data indicated on Wednesday.
The blue-chip index of the Montenegro Stock Exchange, MNSE10, closed at 969.89 points on Tuesday, up 3.75% month-on-month but 4.1% down year-on-year.
The MONEX PIF index, which tracks six privatisation and investment funds, increased by 0.67%% month-on-month in February, reaching 2,730.10 points. The index rose 4.6% year-on-year.
Budvanska riviera rose the most among the blue chips in February, adding 21.21% month-on-month to 6.0 euro, as 2,650 of its shares changed hands in seven transactions.
Last week, Montenegro's government said it has included three members of the blue-chip index MNSE10 of Podgorica bourse, namely Budvanska riviera, Ulcinjska riviera [MNG:ULRI] through the sale of shares and to privatise port operator Luka Bar [BEL:LUBA] in 2017.
Montenegro's majority state-owned power transmission system operator Crnogorski Elektroprenosni Sistem [MNG:PREN] paced the blue-chip decliners in February, shedding 6.30% month-on-month, to 0.72 euro. The company generated a share turnover of 36,012 euro. A total of 48,292 shares in the company changed hands in February in 25 transactions.
Turnover from trading in shares on the Montenegro bourse rose in February to 2.425 million euro ($2.56 million) from 1.652 million euro a year earlier. Trading turnover was 33% higher than in January.
Trading in Treasury bonds contributed 7.1 million euro to the bourse's total turnover of 9.525 million euro in February. A total of 1,931 securities of the zero-coupon OB17 issue, maturing on July 1, 2017, changed hands in a single transaction on February 2. On February 3, investors traded a total of 700 securities of the GB16 issue, bearing a coupon of 3.875%, and maturing on March 18, 2020.
A total of 472 transactions were concluded on the bourse in Podgorica in February, versus 279 in January. Stock market capitalisation was 2.950 billion euro at the end of February, up from 2.903 billion euro a month earlier.
($=0.947293 euro)