Securities registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository, Q4 2008

Foreign share owners’ net sale of shares registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository totalled NOK 31 billion during the fourth quarter of 2008. At the end of the quarter their total ownership of shares amounted to 31 per cent. Foreign investors’ net sale of shares in 2008 totalled almost NOK 45 billion. In comparison, foreign share owners’ net purchase of shares totalled almost NOK 59 billion in 2007. These net sales resulted in a decrease in foreign ownership of shares registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository from 38 per cent at the end of 2007 to 31 per cent at the end of 2008. More than one half of the foreign net sales in 2008 were carried out in state enterprises, and the buyer of these shares was the Norwegian government, which bought a substantial number of shares in StatoilHydro ASA.

Sharp fall in share values

The effects of the global financial crisis continued in the fourth quarter of 2008, and share values for more than NOK 422 billion disappeared in the companies registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository during the quarter. At the end of 2008 the total share values in the companies amounted to NOK 1333.3 billion, a decrease of almost 48 per cent since the end of 2007. The main reason for this decrease was lower share prices on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE). The OSE All-share index fell by more than 52 per cent in 2008. The share values were, by the end of 2008, divided into NOK 950.1 billion in quoted shares and NOK 383.2 billion in unquoted shares. While foreign share owners reduced their total ownership in the fourth quarter of 2008, government and private companies increased their ownership by 1.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively to a total of 27.9 per cent and 25.1 per cent. Additionally, households’ net purchase of shares totalled almost NOK 3.3 billion in the fourth quarter and their ownership increased by 0.5 per cent to a total of 5.2 per cent during the quarter.

Government measures increase stocks of debt securities

Stocks of debt securities registered with the Norwegian Central Securities Depository increased in the fourth quarter of 2008. The stock of bonds increased by 8 per cent, to NOK 916.4 billion, and the stock of short-term debt securities increased by 39.3 per cent, to NOK 181.8 billion. The growth in the stocks of debt securities is mainly caused by an increase in issuing activity due to government measures established in October 2008 to improve the liquidity in Norwegian banks.