STOCK EXCHANGE: The general index of the Helsinki Stock Exchange continues to crawl under ten tons

The OMXH general index of the Helsinki Stock Exchange continued on Monday afternoon in a slight decrease of 0.1 percent at around 9,887.3 points. Internationally, the market’s attention this week is on the US election on Tuesday. The first election results will be available on the night between Tuesday and Wednesday Finnish time.

The most traded stocks on the Helsinki Stock Exchange did not reach a consensus on the direction. It was at the top of the list Nordea down 0.6 percent, second Nokia 0.7 percent down and third Roots up 0.3 percent.

Nokia said that it had signed an extension agreement with Taiwan Mobile. Nokia is modernizing Taiwan Mobile’s 5G network and updating its current 4G infrastructure with devices from the AirScale product portfolio. Airscale products are now being shipped to Taiwan for the first time. The value of the contract was not disclosed in the release.

The top of the stock market’s rise was driven by the companies at the smaller end of the stock market, Aiforia with a 6.6 percent increase, Componenta with a 6.3 percent increase and Nexstim with a 4.5 percent increase. The share of the food technology company Solar Foods was the fastest, falling by 11.4 percent.

Applying artificial intelligence to medicine Aiphoria and US-based Paige announced that they have entered into a partnership that will make Paige’s diagnostic AI applications available on the Aiforia Platform.

The cooperation will start in the coming months by creating integrated solutions for the workflows of both clinical and preclinical laboratories. The cooperation also includes product development initiatives around advanced artificial intelligence models, Aiforia’s press release states.

The day’s results were announced by an industrial maintenance company Viafin Service and a media company Ilkka.

Viafin’s net sales and operating profit grew clearly stronger than the expectations of Inderes, the analysis house that follows the company. The company repeated its guidance on growing turnover and improving operating profit margin. The figures for January–September were clearly ahead of the comparison period, so no miracles are required at the end of the year to reach the guidelines.

CEO of Viafin Heikki Pesu however, commented on the market prospects in the report. The inactivity of the forest industry contributes to the demand for the maintenance business. The caution of industrial companies with investment projects, on the other hand, casts shadows over the project business. The CEO estimates that market uncertainty and geopolitical risks will remain and create significant uncertainty in the market outlook well into next year. According to Pesu, the company continues its active profitability program towards a falling market.

Viafin’s share was up 3.9 percent.

Ilka’s profit figures improved from the comparison period in the third quarter. However, turnover decreased.

“The operating environment and the general economic situation continued to be uncertain and stagnant in the third quarter as well. Companies’ investments in marketing have continued to be cautious and decisions about investments have been postponed,” commented Ilka’s CEO. Olli Pirhonen in the bulletin.

The weak economic situation especially weighed on the development of the turnover of technology services, other services and marketing and communication services, which was reflected in a weakened operating profit. The net sales of media services fell by 9.2 percent in the third quarter, and content revenues fell by 9.0 percent.

Ilka’s share price was up 4.0 percent on a thin exchange.

IT service company Digital said on Monday that he had won Traficomin competition. The contract is valid for an indefinite period. Digia does not say the value of the contract. The competitive procurement includes the design and delivery project of interfaces and integrations, technical solutions, an integration team and ongoing services. Digia has previously served Traficom in system development, among other things.

Digia’s share was up 0.6 percent.