SSE (Stockholm) - Swedish Stock Market Overview

The Stockholm 30 Index (OMXS30) ended the week with an overall decrease of -5.16%, or -3.12EUR and a closing value of 57.39EUR per share. After a decrease of -5.39% on Monday, the index rose during the rest of the week except Friday, when the value dropped by -4.95%. In contrast to the previous surprisingly successful week for all companies, only 2 shares rose, whereas 28 companies experienced a drop in their shares. The two winners of the week were AstraZeneca (AZN), whose price per share increased by +4.49%, or by 1.27EUR and reached the closing price per share of 29.66EUR; and Ericsson B (ERIC B), with +0.35% and closing price 5.45EUR. The top losers of the week were Swedbank A (SWED A), whose price per share dropped by -25.89%, or went down from 5.45EUR by -1.41EUR to 4.04EUR; SEB A (SEB A) with a decrease of -25.00% and closing price of 4.81EUR, as well as many other companies.

Sweden’s automobile industry is facing an increasing number of problems. Car sales dropped critically, Ford considers selling Volvo Cars, General Motors are already seeking a buyer of Saab, Scania freezes its production for one month, and therefore, the overall picture is very frightening. Sweden’s automobile industry accounts for 15% of Sweden’s exports, and consists of 700 companies and suppliers that currently employ 140,000 people. It is also logical to assume that if the situation is not helped, the share prices of Swedish car companies and steel suppliers will continue to go down. 

The leader of this week is AstraZeneca (AZN) with a share price increase of +4.49% by 1.27EUR and a closing price of 29.66EUR. AstraZeneca is a large Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical company.  Its shares are in New York, London and Stockholm share markets. Last two showed positive results this week. On Thursday, the company announced good study results – its medicament PN 400 showed clinically meaningful benefit in reducing gastric ulcers. News was followed by a relatively huge increase of 4.97%. Yahoo! Finance UK analytics said that there should be resistance on the price of 28.95EUR per share. Resistance means that all investors in the market do not believe that the price will go more and starts selling shares. As the share price is bigger than expected resistance price only for three days, we can expect that next week it will go down a bit. 

SSAB Svenskt Stål AB (SSAB A) and Boliden (BOL) have lost respectively -17.51% (or -1.06EUR) and -15.79% (or -0.28EUR) in their share price. SSAB Svenskt Stål AB is a global producer of high strength steel with a leading market position, while Boliden is a leading European metals company, the main metals of which are zinc and copper. Both companies are in materials sector and their performance is very dependent on the events that take place in the automobile industry, as the decreased demand on automobiles leads to a decreased demand on metal. The US automobile industry has been experiencing crisis and hopefully waiting for the White House decision on bailout. This week it was announced that bailout would be half as large as billion requested by the leading companies General Motors Corp, Chrysler LLC and Ford Motor Co. To survive automakers are forced to appeal for support from other governments (Canada and Ontario), reduce their production and take away some brands. This situation keeps the market and the investors in uncertainty. And there will probably be no positive changes next week.