Upturn for Oslo Børs – BW Offshore was sent straight to the bottom

The main index on the Oslo Stock Exchange rose 1.21 percent on Monday. Thus, the optimism that began on Friday last week has continued.

Norway’s weak retail sales figures for July, presented this morning, is another sign that the pressure on the Norwegian economy is easing, and that interest rate peaks are closer than ever.

The deadline for bidding on Kahoot has been extended

On the Friday after the stock market closed, it was announced that investment group Kangaroo Bidco had extended the deadline for bidding on Kahoot by two weeks, to September 8th. The $35-per-share bid has been met with skepticism and opposition from many of Kahoot’s major owners, including Folketrygdfondet and Kristin Sveas’ investment firm Kistefos.

In an announcement to the stock exchange on Monday morning, Kahoot said that 58.95 percent of the company’s share capital and votes accepted the offer. Kahoot shares closed at NOK 33.85 on Friday.

The NOK 35 offer was supported by Chairman Andreas Hansson, the rest of the Board and Managing Director Eilert Hanowa. The group of buyers needs to agree to 90 percent of the shares to be able to mandatorily redeem the rest and write off Kahoot.

Kahoot’s stake was just under NOK 30 when the offer was first made at the beginning of July.

On Monday, the stock fell 0.74 percent to NOK 33.60.

BW Offshore reported its quarterly results Monday morning. Second-quarter results were weaker than the first quarter, driven by higher costs. The Board of Directors approved a dividend of $0.063 per share. The market rewarded the quarterly report with the stock down nearly 13 percent.

And the Fed chairman eased the anxiety

US Central Bank Chairman Jerome Powell managed to assuage the worst anxiety in the markets with his speech at the Fed’s Jackson Hole summit just before the weekend.

Analysts largely agree that Powell delivered a balanced speech, emphasizing, among other things, that the Fed will continue to cautiously raise interest rates during the last phase of the rate hike cycle, and potentially tighten monetary policy.

“Thus, the Fed’s stance is basically unchanged, with decisions being driven by key numbers related to the US economy and inflation,” Kelly Chen, analyst at DNB Markets, wrote in his morning report on Monday.

At least US investors didn’t let themselves be intimidated and sent US stock markets higher on Friday, after a turbulent week on stock markets. This initial reaction suggests that markets have already considered a tighter monetary policy, and that investors believe Powell’s signals about gradual and measured actions by the central bank.

vulnerable in China, which lowers taxes

The optimism from Wall Street in the Asian stock exchanges continued throughout the night and into the morning. Investors also welcomed the latest measure in China, where the authorities decided to halve the tax on stock trading from 0.1 percent to 0.05 percent. The hope is that this will act as a catalyst for economic growth by increasing the volume of trade, attracting new capital and stimulating investment. It can also make the Chinese stock market more liquid and thus more attractive to both national and international investors.

The collapse of real estate company China Evergrande last night illustrates the problems in China. China Evergrande was once the most valuable real estate company in the world, but most of its value is now gone.