BELGRADE (Serbia), October 3 (SeeNews) – Share prices rose on the Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX) on Wednesday and brokers expect its stock indices to resume their growth now that the initial public offering (IPO) of the top telecoms company in neighbouring Croatia T-HT has closed.
The blue-chip BELEX15 index gained 0.66% to 2,839.12 points, while the broader BELEXline added 0.51% to 4,452.52. The joint SRX index of the bourses in Belgrade and Vienna went up 1.43% to 1,611.13. Total turnover fell to 510 million dinars ($9.3 million/6.5 million euro) from 770 million dinars on Tuesday.
“We had no big turnovers today but we had no price shocks, either,” Mirko Trivunovic, a broker with Fidelity brokerage, told SeeNews. “Now that the IPO in Croatia has finished, I think the money inflow towards them has stopped and now I think the indices should start to grow slowly.”
Last month, the Croatian government opened the IPO of 32.5% of T-HT, in which it planned to raise some 7.0 billion kuna ($1.4 billion/957.8 million euro). The IPO attracted great investor interest, draining funds from the markets in Croatia and Serbia and making Belgrade bourse stagnate. The IPO subscription period for individuals had a September 27 deadline, while for institutional investors the deadline was October 1. Deutsche Telekom owns 51% of T-HT.
In Belgrade, pharmaceuticals producer Jugohemija and blue-chip Privredna Banka had the biggest turnovers on Wednesday. Jugohemija share price surged 20.0% to 7,800 dinars in 43 million dinars of turnover, while Privredna Banka lost 0.37% to 5,400 dinars in 41 million dinars of turnover.
“I cannot see any special reason for the good volumes of these companies,” Trivunovic said.
(1 euro = 78.1811 dinars)