Slovenian Stock Indices Fall Further in Lower Turnover

The blue-chip SBITOP index of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) lost 2.04% to 1,211.38 and the broader 15-share SBI20 index fell 2.35% to 5,362.72. Slovenian stock indices lost nearly two percent each on Wednesday as investors cashed in their equity positions.

“Turnover was very low [on Thursday]. [...] It is evident from the turnover that these were sales and purchases by smaller investors,” Sasa Cernil, head of trading at Maribor-based Raiffeisen Banka, told SeeNews.

LJSE's total turnover halved to 2.17 million euro ($2.8 million) on Thursday from 4.04 million euro on Wednesday when the bond market contributed 2.3 million euro to the total turnover.

Shares in heavyweight blue-chip drug maker Krka were traded most on Thursday, falling 1.4% to an average price of 68.17 euro on turnover of some 788,000 euro.

The country’s second largest bank by assets, Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor (NKBM), was the top blue-chip decliner, falling 3.96% to 16 euro on 89,000 euro of trunover.

Brewer Pivovarna Lasko was the only gainer among the 10 blue chips as it surged 4.64% to 56.55 euro on some 37,000 euro of turnover. Pivovarna Lasko was the biggest decliner among the blue chips on Wednesday, losing 7.92%. Cernil said the high fluctuations in the company’s share price were due to the high volatility on the market. Any somewhat bigger deal lifts or drags the market down, she added.

Cernil expects the Slovenian market to fall a bit further on Friday, following losses abroad. Movements on the LJSE have tracked trends on global markets in the last few weeks.

($ = 0.7772 euro)