Estonian stock market becomes clear leader in Baltic states

1999-12-09

The Estonian securities market is returning to the lead among the
three Baltic bourses, having recently moved ahead of the Vilnius
exchange in terms of growth since the beginning of the year. Last
week the Riga Stock Exchange's share indexes rose faster, but the
Tallinn Stock Exchange's liquidity still sharply exceeds that of its
neighbors. The TSE's average daily turnover is almost $2 million,
while the figure was about 10 times lower in Vilnius and 35 times
lower in Riga.

It is interesting to compare in this light the stocks that will be
included on the Baltic List as of the new year. The total weekly
turnover of Balta, Unibanka, Ventspils Nafta and Latvijas Gaze
totaled about $177,000. Meanwhile the turnover of Eesti Telekom,
Hansabank, Norma, Uhispank and Optiva Bank totaled more than $8
million.

So, the turnover of the Estonian portion of the Baltic List is 45
times higher than the Latvian portion. It is already clear that the
Lithuanian part of the Baltic List, which includes Kalnapilis
brewery, Rokiskio Suris dairy, Utenos Trikotazas knitwear factory,
Vilniaus Bankas and possibly refrigerator maker Snaige shares, also
will not come close to the turnover of the Estonian securities.