At the end of January 2023, SBITOP grew by 7.9% MoM, ending it at 1,128.68 points.

The total equity turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange amounted to EUR 22.7m, representing a decrease of 41.9% YoY, and 19.4% MoM. This would also mean that the average daily turnover in January amounted to EUR 2.26m.

In terms of the block trades, two block transactions were made during the month, this being Krka at EUR 1.3m and NLB at EUR 478.5k. Excluding these transactions, total equity turnover amounted to EUR 20.9m. Including blocks, the largest turnover was recorded by Krka, with a turnover of EUR 6.6m (or 29% of the total equity turnover), followed by NLB, at EUR 6m (or 26.4% of the total), Cinkarna Celje, at EUR 2.3m (or 9.9% of the total), Petrol, at EUR 2.1m (or 9.2% of the total), and Triglav, at EUR 2m (or 9.9% of the total). In fact, this would mean that the top 5 most traded stocks accounted for 83.4% of the total turnover, while the top 10 would account for 98.6%.

In terms of the indices, Slovenia’s main index, SBITOP, increased by as much as 7.9% and ended the month at 1,128.68 points. At the same time, SBITOP TR grew by 8.2%, ending the month at 1,426.98 points.

Taking a look at the SBITOP constituents’ performance during the month, we can see that 9 out of 10 companies recorded growth during January. Three companies recorded a double-digit growth with the largest increase recorded by Cinkarna Celje, with a growth of 12.2%. Cinkarna Celje was followed by Petrol and Krka with 11.5% and 11.4% share price increases, respectively, primarily driving SBITOP’s growth. Further, Slovenian financials also noted a positive price development during January. Sava Re, NLB and Triglav all noted an increase amounting to 6.8%, 4.8% and 1.7%. On the flip side, the only decrease was recorded by Unior, which slightly declined by 2%.

Performance of SBITOP constituents (January 2023, MoM, %)

Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research

What this can tell us is that even though the Slovenian equity market managed to somewhat recover during the last 2 months, it is still a lot lower than its levels at the beginning of the year. However, due to the current inflationary and geopolitical situation, as well as the fact that the Slovenian blue chips which make up the majority of the LJSE reached all-time highs in their value at the end of 2021, this decline is to be expected.