Nordic stock exchanges performance in 2011

Nordic exchanges had a rough ride in 2011 with annual return ending up among the lowest quartile of yearly performances within the last 20 years. The exchanges started the year on a positive note but soon it became evident that the cycle had turned. Companies kept posting record results until the summer but even the results clearly started tempering going into the final months of 2011 as cost inflation started eating away from the bottom line. The Eurozone worries escalated the retreat in the summer but the exchanges fared somewhat better in the final weeks of 2011.

While the currencies in Sweden and Norway were gaining recognition as something of safe havens, the same could not be said about the corresponding stocks markets in 2011 as hot money left the smaller (and thus less liquid) exchanges as fear set in. Swedish OMXS30 was down around 15% and OMXSPI more than 16.5% for the year. As for Oslo, OBX index was down around 11% and OSEAX all share index also around 10%, but Norwegian exchange also had plenty of companies that lost over 90% of their value within the year.

Denmark’s economic problems showed also in Copenhagen exchange’s performance. OMXC20 was down over 14,5% for the year with OMXCPI index losing around 17%; relatively poor performances for an exchange that has plenty of stocks in “defensive” medicine sector. At the very bottom of the heap, Finland’s exporter-heavy pro-cyclical OMXH25 retreated over 26% and OMXHPI just over 30% with nearly 90% of the stocks in the red.