The Macedonian stock exchange closed the first half of the year with a face that says more than any report - the main index in the red, total turnover up only symbolically, and the number of transactions sharply down. In other words, more money is being traded, but by fewer people. A market that works, but in which an ever-narrower circle pulls the strings.

The figures, drawn from official exchange data, set the tone. The MBI10 index closed the half-year at 9,521 points - a drop of 9.88 percent compared to the same period last year. The market capitalisation of shares fell by 5.80 percent. Total turnover reached 4.57 billion denars across 8,681 transactions - a formal rise of 4.35 percent in turnover, but the number of transactions is down by nearly 26 percent.

Here's the trap the number hides. More than half of the entire turnover - over 52 percent - was realised through block transactions, that is, large agreed packages among a few players, rather than through live trading on the open market. When the largest slice of the money moves outside the regular exchange, the „growth“ in turnover says more about a few big deals than about a healthy, liquid market with many participants.

Liquidity, as usual, revolves around the same few names. The most traded were the shares of Makedonijaturist, Komercijalna banka and Alkaloid - the three pillars that have kept the exchange on its feet for years. The other listed companies largely stand still.

Among individual shares, the picture is split. The biggest gainer is RŽ Tehnička kontrola with growth of 16.92 percent, followed by Ading with 14.46 and Popova Kula with 12.50 percent. At the other end, the biggest loser is Makedonijaturist with a fall of 28.91 percent, then Makošped with 25.32 and Tikveš with 24.12 percent - the same Makedonijaturist that is among the most traded, which shows how thin the line is between activity and stability.

For an economy that has dreamed of a developed capital market for decades, this is a familiar picture: a few shares, a few players and turnover that hangs on block deals. The exchange functions - but to grow into a real engine of the economy, far more than three safe names is needed.