In March 2023, total equity turnover increased 20% MoM, while CROBEX grew slightly by 0.4% during the month, ending at 2,237.43 points.
In March, we have seen more or less a flat movement of CROBEX, noting just a slight increase of 0.4% MoM. The total equity turnover on the exchange, however, is telling its own story. In March 2023, it amounted to a total of EUR 28.1m, which is a decrease of 40% YoY and an increase of 20% MoM. The decrease on a yearly level is evident and further amplified due to exceptionally strong trading in March last year. This month’s block turnover amounted to only EUR 663k, which would mean that the block turnover accounted for only 2.5% of the total equity turnover. In total, only 2 block trades were made during the month, Atlantic Grupa contributing with EUR 349k and Luka Rijeka with EUR 314k. Furthermore, this would also imply an average daily equity turnover of EUR 1.1m.
Turning our attention to the top 10 most traded stocks, in total, they recorded a turnover of EUR 17.8m, accounting for 68.5% of the equity turnover (excl. blocks) during the month. The highest turnover was recorded by SPAN, at EUR 3.4m, or 13.2% of the total, followed by Valamar Riviera, at EUR 2.3m, or 9.2% of the total. ZABA and HT are following the list with 8.7% and 7.3% of total equity turnover, respectively. This would also mean that the top 5 most traded stocks accounted for 45.5% of the total turnover. Overall, we note that Span was the most traded share for two months in a row currently.
Looking at the largest index on ZSE, CROBEX, we note that it recorded just a slight increase of 0.4% during the month, and ended at 2,237.43 points. CROBEX10 also experienced a 0.4% increase and ended at 1,274.87 points.
Performance of CROBEX10 constituents in March 2023 (MoM, %)
Source: ZSE, InterCapital Research
Looking at the CROBEX10, the largest increases were recorded by the most traded share, Span, with its share price double-digit growth amounting to 11.5%. Span is followed by Atlantska Plovidba with 9.3% and Arena Hospitality Group with 8.5%. The positive sentiment continued throughout the whole quarter. The sentiment was driven by warmer-than-expected winter, inflation stabilization, as well as the general macroeconomic outlook being less bleak than it seemed a couple of months ago. However, the recent bank uncertainties with the balance sheets of banks have appeared and shaken the sentiment recovery. You can read it in more detail here. Coming back to the CROBEX however, due to the weights that stocks have in the index, the real drivers of the growth are somewhat different than the top companies by individual performance. CROBEX10, similar to CROBEX, has a relatively similar composition, except it has 10 instead of 15 stocks. As such, its price movements were also under the influence of similar stocks. Consequently, it should not surprise with similar performance.
