Macedonian Stock Exchange Turnover Fell 45 Percent in October, and Three Shares Made Up 72.6 Percent of Trading

The Macedonian Stock Exchange ended October with total turnover of 219.07 million denars, against 402.39 million in September. A drop of 45.56 percent in a single month. The number of transactions fell from 1,592 to 1,054. Those are the figures from the exchange's monthly bulletin, published on 6 November.

Part of the drop has an explanation: in September, 84.52 million denars came from a public offering of securities, and in October there was nothing of the kind. But even without that, the picture is no better. Regular trading fell from 275.35 to 189.07 million denars, or 31.34 percent, and average daily turnover from 13.11 to 9.45 million denars.

A three-share stock exchange

The most telling indicator is not how much was traded but what. Komercijalna Banka posted turnover of 73.5 million denars, Alkaloid 41.7 million, Makpetrol 21.1 million. Together, the three made up around 72.6 percent of share turnover on the official market. Every other company shares less than a third. At the session on 10 November the picture was even starker: of 19.31 million denars in total turnover, almost 68.7 percent went to the shares of a single bank.

The MBI10 index ended October at 8,875.19 points, 1.87 percent lower than in September and 11.73 percent below its level on the last trading day of 2025. The market capitalisation of shares shrank from 327.5 to 319.96 billion denars. There were winners too - OKTA, with its average price up 14.96 percent - but also Makedonijaturist, down 17.14 percent, and Makedonski Telekom, down 6.27 percent.

A year that keeps slipping

In 2024 the exchange's total turnover was 13.4 billion denars. In 2025 it fell to 9.59 billion. For the first ten months of 2026 it stands at 6.02 billion. If the pace holds through December, the year would end at around 7.22 billion - almost half of 2024.

The trend is not new: for the second year running, turnover is melting away. When one bank accounts for two thirds of a day's turnover, that is not a market with depth but a shop window with a few items on display. Who is supposed to bring it back to life - and does anyone even have a plan for that?