According to the UP World LNG Shipping Index, the only stock market index in the world focused on LNG shipping companies, it showed an increase of 0.63% last week. For their part, US stocks represented by the S&P 500 index gained 3.65%. Winter is expected to increase indie trading.
The UP index was pushed lower mainly by Asian equities but still closed in the black. Norway’s two minor components gained 14.6% (Awilco LNG, OSE: ALNG) and 13.3% (Cool Company, OSE: COOL). The rest of the constituents were closer to the Norwegians than to the Japanese.
The chart of the UP World LNG Shipping Index and the S&P 500 Index shows signs of optimism. SPX pushed the UP index lower for three weeks, and now the UP index can take advantage of the momentum of the bull markets. Fall and winter are the busiest seasons for LNG carriers. Due to the demand from Europe and the Russian aggression on Ukraine, the global demand for LNG is continuously increasing. Russia has to liquefy its natural gas to offer it to the new Asian markets; it is not as easy as sending it through the existing pipeline in Europe. Japanese companies join Russian projects, but lack of US and European technologies could cause problems for Russian LNG export.
Let’s go back to the constituents of the UP Index. The third most successful was Golar LNG (NYQ: GLNG), which increased 5.2%. Belgium’s Exmar NV (BSE: EXM) gained 4.4% and New Fortress Energy added 2.7%, the same as Malaysia’s MISC Berhad (KLSE: 3816).
The most significant drop was suffered by Dynagas LNG Partners (NYSE: DLNG), which lost 6.9%. But Asian stocks made up the majority of the declining pack. Korea Line Corporation (KRX: 005880) lost 5.7%, and the Japanese trio (MOL, “K” line and NYK Line) lost 3.8%, 3.8% and 1.8%.
The UP World LNG Shipping Index is a rules-based family of stock indices designed to display and measure the performance of global publicly traded companies involved in the shipping of liquefied natural gas (LNG). This unique index covers 19 companies and associations around the world, including the US, Qatar, Japan, Norway, South Korea and Malaysia. The index covers more than 65% of the world’s fleet of LNG carriers. UP Index is a premium service. We offer freemium (the basic chart of the UP Index and the S&P 500 Index) and trial access to all charts.
Source: UP-Indices.com & Hellenic Shipping News
