Bullish as ever in Baltics

Baltic markets, largely unaffected by the global downward trend over the past year, stuck to their bullish sentiments.

All Baltic stocks but one rose over the past week, lifting the Baltic List index 1.8 percent last week to finish at 193 points.

The week's only loser was Lithuania's Utenos Trikotazas, down 4.44 percent.

Arvids Sipols, co-head of securities trading at Parex Bank in Riga, said investors' mood was definitely improving.

"It's getting better and better," he said. "We have seen healthy interest for stocks on the main and second lists. Ventspils Nafta was driven up, and LASCO is pretty stable - it's not dropping anymore."

As Sipols explained, "Latvia's stock market has been isolated from the global sell-off. It is not linked, as it could be, to the Russian market, and that's actually good for now."

Ventspils Nafta was the biggest gainer of the week - up 11.2 percent to 1.38 euros - after it released its encouraging first-quarter results, and Latvijas Kugnieciba (LASCO) shipping company was stable at 0.44 euros.

In Tallinn, Hansapank's announcement to pay dividends was the week's main news.

Hansabank Markets trader Romet Tepper told the Baltic News Service that investors were quite concerned with the international situation, although local stocks were not apparently affected.

"Positive moods persisted on the bourse in the outgoing week, but trade went on practically without news," Tepper said. "The eyes of many investors were trained on Iraq from where the principal news came."

Hansapank rose 0.75 percent and finished a little over 16 euros at the end of the week.

Merko construction and Eesti Telekom gained 2.7 percent and 2.4 percent, respectively.

The week's intense trading activity in Vilnius was attributed by market analysts to foreign investors' interest. Total turnover reached 11.5 million euros, as refrigerator maker Snaige rose 1.5 percent to hit 38.5 euros, while blue chip Lietuvos Telekomas jumped 8.5 percent to 0.33 euros.