Slovenian Stock Indices Fall Slightly in Negligible Turnover

The blue-chip SBITOP index of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange (LJSE) shed 0.99% to 918.93 points and the broader 15-share SBI20 index fell 0.96% to 3,934.48 points on Tuesday.

Total turnover on the LJSE halved to some 816,000 euro ($1.1 million) on Tuesday from 1.67 million euro on Monday. The LJSE has been dogged by weak turnover recently as cautious investors are waiting to see what course the local economy will take amid the global economic slowdown, market analysts have said.

As usual, shares in blue-chip drug maker Krka were traded most, local brokerage house Ilirika said in a daily note. Krka lost 2.07% to an average price of 54.06 euro in 423,000 euro of turnover.

The country’s largest food retailer, Mercator, was the top blue-chip loser, falling 2.74% to 165.33 euro.

Rubber-to-tourism holding company Sava and brewer Pivovarna Lasko were the only gainers among the 10 blue chips. Sava went up 2.64% to 251.79 euro and Pivovarna Lasko added 0.39% to 46 euro.

The SBI20 index slipped 67.49% and the SBITOP index lost 66.09% in 2008 amidst global market woes. The two indices have clawed back some 6.5-7.5% of their value so far this year amid weak turnover.

Market analysts have said the Slovenian equity market is likely to recover first in southeastern Europe as local investors dominate the market and foreigners, who abandened the region last year, have a limited role on it.

($ = 0.7728 euro)