Macedonian Stock Exchange
Ivan Steriev
Chief Executive Officer
About Company
Established: September 1995
Address: Orce Nikolov 75, 1000 Skopje
Republic of North Macedonia
Working hours: 09:00 - 18:00
Contact person: Katerina Jordanovska
Email:
Website: www.mse.mk
- Rejoined FEAS in 2022 -
Year in review
In 2023, after a longer period of time, the Macedonian Stock Exchange has slowed down. The total stock market turnover on all bases is 75 million euros, which is a decrease of about 42 % compared to the same period last year. The turnover in the BEST system (the trading of shares and bonds in BEST system) is 47 million euros, that is, about 38% lower than last year. On average, 49 transactions were concluded per day in the BEST system, and the average amount of the daily turnover is around 190 thousand euros. On the other hand, the MBI10 index on the annual level recorded a new plus of 8.21%. It could be concluded that MSE listed companies are holding up well. In 2023, out of total of 94 listed companies, 68 reported an annual profit in the amount of 319 million euros, which is an increase of about 22% compared to last year. Unfortunately, the low participation of foreign portfolio investors continues with about 3.4% participation in the purchase turnover of the Macedonian Stock Exchange in 2023. Historically speaking, in the past years when we had a larger share of foreign investors, most foreign investors came from the SEE region. In this context, we hope that the process of ownership connection with the Zagreb Stock Exchange (which is now the biggest shareholder in the Macedonian Stock Exchange with 30%) will result in the return of regional investors to the Macedonian market and/or in attracting other foreign investors through sales channels of Croatian brokers and funds. In the meantime, the market is primarily driven by domestic investors, of which individuals accounted for 65 % of the purchase turnover last year. Of course, this characteristic of our market has its advantages and disadvantages.
It should also be noted that the market offer during 2023 was enriched by the successful issuance of a series of new government securities, i.e. two issues of the so-called civil bonds, as well as the first "green" bonds and specific structural bonds (issued in order to facilitate the financial operations of local self-government units). Locally, regionally and globally, the general economic environment in 2023 was full of challenges and negative expectations due to the increase in inflation and interest rates, the possibility of a recession... On our market, especially in the first quarter, the newly introduced taxation of capital gains from securities trading had a strong negative impact. The increase in interest rates due to the necessary curbing of inflation vis-a-vis investors' interest in trading with shareson MSE causes a negative correlation because bank deposits have become more attractive again, and at the same time they are not yet taxed according to current legislation in our country. The top development priority of the Macedonian Stock Exchange is the improvement of the offer side on the market. We believe that there is a demand for quality financial instruments on our market. The demand can be upgraded – to attract new investors from the country or abroad, but it is not an essential obstacle for further development. Supply is a huge challenge. That is the reason why we put the emphasis on improving the existing offer, through projects such as the new Corporate Governance Code, incorporation of ESG standards
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The Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges