RIGA
- Baltic equity suffered across the
board as a result of the confidence
crisis affecting world markets, with
the OMX Baltic Benchmark index
shedding 5.4 percent in the week ending
Aug. 17. Not one stock on the
three countries' official lists managed
a gain over the five-day period.
The biggest loss among blue-chip
stocks was posted by the PTA Group,
Estonia's garment market, whose
shares nosedived 14.8 percent, while
construction leader Merko Ehitus
saw its stock plummet 11 percent.
"The keyword this week was the
global decline of stock markets
brought on by the loan crisis, which
also affected the Tallinn Stock
Exchange," Mart Veskimagi, equity
director at SBM Bank, told the Baltic
News Service.
Estonian stocks, the most dynamic
in the Baltics, didn't suffer the negative
sentiment globally immediately,
but gradually as the week wore on
the prevailing pessimism took hold
on the Tallinn Stock Exchange.
"On Friday [Aug. 17], after the
exchange had closed, the U.S. Federal
Reserve surprised the markets with
an unexpected rate cut to ease turbulence
on the world's stock markets,"
Veskimagi said. "By now the
European and U.S. markets are trading
in positive territory, which
means we can believe that trading on
the Tallinn Stock Exchange will
resume on a more positive note next
week," he said.
