OMX Iceland 15

Index performance from 15 January 1998 – 6 May 2009

The OMX Iceland 15 (formerly the ICEX15) is a defunct stock market index which consisted of a maximum of 15 companies listed on the OMX Iceland Stock Exchange with the highest market capitalization. At the final official review of the index effective in January 2009, 12 companies made up the index, four of which were Faroese. Calculated daily since 1998 and starting at 1,000 points, it was a market value-weighted index and the constituent companies were reviewed twice a year.[1]

Over the year 2008 and over the entire decade 1998-2008 the OMX Iceland 15 was the worst performing stock index in the world,[2] being heavily affected by the 2008 Icelandic financial crisis which saw a number of index constituents become insolvent, be nationalised or opt to delist from the exchange. The index was discontinued in July 2009 and replaced by the OMX Iceland 6 as the exchange's benchmark stock index, which had run concurrently for the previous six months.[3]

2008 decline

OMX Iceland 15 closing prices during the five trading weeks from September 29, 2008 to October 31, 2008.

OMX Iceland 15 suffered a great loss during the financial crisis in 2008. Trading in the stock market was suspended for three successive trading days, October 9, October 10, and October 13. Trading was resumed on October 14, 2008, and OMX Iceland 15 closed at 678.4, which corresponds to a fall of about 77% compared with its close at 3,004.6 on October 8, 2008. This reflected the fact that the value of the three big banks (Glitnir, Kaupthing Bank and Landsbanki Íslands) which formed 73.2 percent of the value of the OMX Iceland 15,[4] had been set to zero.

Final composition

The index consisted of the following companies at the final index reshuffle effective on 2 January 2009.[5] Both Straumur and SPRON were delisted from the exchange before the index's retirement six months later.

Company GICS Sector Ticker symbol
Alfesca packaged foods and meats A
Atlantic Airways airlines FO-AIR
Atlantic Petroleum oil and gas exploration and production FO-ATLA
Bakkavör packaged foods and meats BAKK
Eik Banki regional banks FO-EIK
Eimskipafélag Íslands marine HFEIM
Føroya Banki regional banks FO-BANK
Icelandair Group airlines ICEAIR
Marel Food Systems industrial machinery MARL
SPRON regional banks SPRON
Straumur-Burðarás investment banking and brokerage STRB
Össur health care equipment OSSR

References

  1. ↑ "OMX Iceland local indexes". OMX. Retrieved 2008-12-14.
  2. ↑ A closer look at a decade performance, AmsterdamTrader.com, January 9, 2009
  3. ↑ "Samsetning nýju úrvalsvísitölunnar óbreytt". Fréttablaðið (in Icelandic). 11 June 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  4. ↑ OMX Nordic Exchange (30 June 2008). "Definitive list of constituents in OMXI15 index".
  5. ↑ "OMXI15 Index Information: Definitive list of constituents in OMXI15 index" (Press release). NASDAQ OMX Nordic. 30 December 2008. Retrieved 2 November 2010.