- Foreign investors accounted for 47% of trading value on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (‘WSE’) in H1 2010, an increase of 11 percentage points
- In H1 2010, turnover on the WSE Main List was almost 60% of total trading in the whole of 2009
- On NewConnect, the value of trading in the first half exceeded that for the whole of 2009
- Trading on the Catalyst market continued to grow strongly with the value of bond issues exceeding 20 billion zloty at the end of July
- The number of investment accounts increased by almost 20% to 1.3 million, with Internet accounts increasing by 169 000 to reach 589 000
- A record 70% of transactions by individual investors in the equity market were through the Internet
Foreign investors accounted for 47% of trading on the WSE, according to the latest WSE study, the highest level since research began. The leading foreign investors were from the UK with 60% of foreign orders, with French investors in second place with 13%.
Institutional investors generated 33% of trading in shares, 4 percentage points lower than in the previous year. Investment funds remained the leading category of institutional investors with 44% of turnover, followed by pension funds with 21%.
Domestic individual investors generated turnover of 40 billion zloty, 20% of all trading on the equity market – seven percentage points down on 2009 and 2 percentage points up on 2008. Internet trading by individual investors was at record levels of 70% of transactions carried out by that method.
The NewConnect market developed at a dynamic pace, both in terms of number of debuts (32 in the first half of 2010) and the value of turnover (1.3 billion zloty, more than in the whole of 2009). A breakdown of turnover on the WSE’s alternative equity market continues to be dominated by individual investors (92%). Institutional and foreign investors generated 7% and 1% of turnover respectively in the first half of the year.
Derivatives market trading continues to be dominated by individual investors, who were responsible for 52% of the volume of trading on the futures market and 58% on the options market in the first half of 2010. The proportion of trading accounted for by institutional investors has remained largely unchanged since 2008, at a level of 36–37% on the futures market and 30–32% of options. The proportion of futures trading accounted for by foreign investors is showing a slight upward trend (12% in the first half of 2010). On the options market foreign investors accounted for 10%, which is close to the levels recorded in 2007–2008.
Austrian institutions were the dominant foreign brokers in the options and futures markets. Austrian investors are more active on the futures market at the WSE than on their domestic Wiener Boerse. In the first half of the year, trading by Austrian brokers on the WSE totalled 511 000 index futures, compared to only 165 000 such contracts on the Viennese exchange.
Record issues by the Polish Treasury attracted new investors to the WSE. In the first half of 2010, the number of investment accounts increased by almost 20%, from 1 099 000 to 1 314 000, while the number of active accounts rose from 255 000 to 412 000.
There was a 41% increase in the average transaction value on the WSE Main List, to 19 300 zloty.
There is continued growth in investment on the Catalyst market, both by value and number of transactions in the first half of the year. The value of bond issues on Catalyst at the end of July totalled more than 20 billion zloty, and there were 63 series of debt instruments listed, issued by both firms and local authorities.
Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO of the Warsaw Stock Exchange, commented:
“The Warsaw Stock Exchange has made good progress in 2010, despite the continuing uncertain global economic environment, with increased foreign investor activity and a number of important new issues confirming our position as the CEE’s leading capital market.”