Yesterday, CROBEX and SBITOP ended the day in red, with a decrease of 0.50% and 1.88%, respectively.

Yesterday, virtually all major European indices ended the trading day in red, which could be attributed to the discovery of a new strain of COVID-19 virus in the UK. The aforementioned caused concern for investors on whether the economies around Europe will (fully) reopen in the foreseeable future. To put things into a perspective, DAX dropped by 2.8%, while FTSE 100 decreased by 1.7%.

Furthermore, the concern for a no-deal (no free-trade agreement) Brexit is rising with the deadline for a deal coming around the corner, potentially meaning that the EU and UK will have to trade according to WTO terms which will lead to higher taxes and tariffs on imports increasing the prices for consumers. The delay in reaching an agreement can mostly be attributed to the issue of fishing rights, as the UK wants to the British quota share on the volume of fish that can be caught from each species in their waters.

Looking at the Slovenian and Croatian stock market, SBITOP and CROBEX are down by 1.88% and 0.50%, respectively. The top losers of the SBITOP index are Triglav (-3.34%), Krka (-2.40%) and Telekom Slovenije (-2.33%). Krka ended the trading day at EUR 89.60 per share, putting it at EV/EBITDA of 5.2x.

On the Croatian market, Atlantic Grupa observed the highest share price decrease (-2.3%) among CROBEX10 constituents. Podravka and HT follow with a decrease of 1.45% and 1.39%, respectively. On the bright side, The European Medicines Agency has approved Pfizer and BioNTech’s Coronavirus vaccine for conditional use for people ages 16 and over in the EU.