Securities registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository, Q1 2008

The continued instability in the international financial markets hit the Norwegian stock market in January 2008 and share values amounting to NOK 427 billion disappeared during the first month of the year. The stock market recovered slightly during February and March, but on the whole the market value of shares registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository decreased by 15 per cent to NOK 2174.4 billion during the first quarter of 2008. This brought the share values back to the same level as in December 2006. At the end of the first quarter, the total stock of shares was divided between NOK 1775.8 billion in quoted shares and NOK 398.6 billion in unquoted shares.

Foreign investors’ net sales of shares during the first quarter of 2008 amounted to nearly NOK 9 billion, while foreigners’ net purchases of shares during 2007 amounted to nearly NOK 60 billon. Foreign ownership decreased by 0.7 per cent and foreign investors owned 37.7 per cent of the share values registered in the Norwegian Central Securities Depository.

The development in the stock market also affected the activity in the primary market. While total share issues in 2007 amounted to nearly NOK 35 billion per quarter, total share issues in the first quarter of 2008 only amounted to NOK 12 billion. The slowdown in the real estate market may also have affected the primary market, as share issues by real estate funds were almost absent from the market in the first quarter of 2008.

The stock of bonds registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository increased by 0.8 per cent to NOK 794.8 billion, and the stock of short-term securities decreased by 1.5 per cent to NOK 128.3 billion.