In March, the Helsinki Stock Exchange experienced a significant drop in turnover compared to the previous year. The decrease was around a third, with trading statistics revealing a 34.9 percent decline in the number of trades and a 30.3 percent fall in the exchange denominated in euros. This coincided with an increase in interest in foreign investments as stock indexes in the United States rose by around ten percent.
Despite this decline, Nordnet’s Finnish customers showed a net increase of 14 million euros in domestic shares in March, while foreign listed shares saw a net increase of 30 million euros. This shift towards international investments was reflected in the weekly and monthly trade statistics. However, there was no rush to buy dividend stocks like the previous year.
The most net bought stock in March was Neste, which had seen a decline of 23 percent since the beginning of the year but remained optimistic about its future success. Other significant net purchases included energy companies Fortum and IT company Tietoevry, while Konecranes was the most net sold share in March.
Foreign stocks that saw significant net purchases included Rheinmetall, MicroStrategy, and Nvidia among others. Among the best-selling foreign stocks were E.ON (German energy company), Dollar General (American hypermarket chain), and AMD (US semiconductor manufacturer).
