Macedonia's Stock Exchange Plunges in Low Liquidity

The MBI-10 index, tracking the 10 blue-chip companies on the MSE, closed 4.5% lower from a week earlier at 2,253.29 points. The MBID index, which includes the shares of the 11 most liquid public companies, plunged 11.6% from last Friday to 2,290.67.

On December 15, MSE revised the MBID index removing the Prilepska Pivarnica AD brewery, but added two other companies: POLI MZT, a manufacturer of braking equipment for railway cars, and electrical equipment producer Rade Koncar. MBID now has 11 components.

“Generally, the picture [on the market] is the same as in previous months. The liquidity is low. The MBI-10 index is continually falling …. Apparently, there are no interested buyers and sellers“, Krste Sajnovski from Euro Broker told SeeNews.

He does not expect any changes until companies start announcing whether or not they will pay dividends, which is expected to take place as of February.

If the companies announce they will pay no dividends, the price of their shares will probably fall drastically, Sajnovski said.

Total turnover on the MSE fell to 116 million denars ($2.7 million/1.9 million euro) this week from 127.9 million denars a week earlier. Turnover on the bourse's official floor fell to 99.2 million denars from 118 million denars last week. Turnover on the unofficial floor increased to 16.8 million denars from 9.9 million denars.

Komercijalna_Banka_AD_Skopje traded the most this week, generating a turnover of 29.5 million denars.

The MSE bond index, OMB, rose 0.6% from a week earlier to 106.68.

(1 euro = 60.0837 Macedonian denars)