As regards the sectoral breakdown, the annual growth rate of outstanding debt securities issued by nonfinancial corporations decreased from 9.8% in February 2008 to 7.7% in March. For the monetary financial institutions (MFIs) sector, this growth rate decreased from 8.6% in February 2008 to 7.6% in March. The annual growth rate of outstanding debt securities issued by financial corporations other than MFIs decreased from 24.8% in February 2008 to 21.1% in March. For the general government, this growth rate decreased from 2.9% in February 2008 to 2.7% in March.
As regards the maturity breakdown, the annual growth rate of outstanding short-term debt securities decreased from 25.6% in February 2008 to 23.2% in March. The annual growth rate of outstanding short-term debt securities issued by MFIs decreased from 30.9% to 29.9% during the same period. For long-term debt securities, the annual growth rate decreased from 6.1% in February 2008 to 5.3% in March. The annual growth rate of outstanding long-term debt securities issued by MFIs decreased from 5.2% to 4.3% during the same period. The annual growth rate of outstanding fixed rate long-term debt securities decreased from 3.1% in February 2008 to 2.6% in March. The annual growth rate of outstanding variable rate long-term debt securities decreased from 13.7% in February 2008 to 12.0% in March.
Concerning the currency breakdown, the annual growth rate of outstanding euro-denominated debt securities decreased from 8.3% in February 2008 to 7.3% in March. For debt securities in other currencies, this growth rate decreased from 5.8% in February 2008 to 5.1% in March.
The seasonally adjusted three-month annualised growth rate of outstanding debt securities issued by euro area residents decreased from 5.7% in February 2008 to 2.2% in March.
New issuance of quoted shares by euro area residents totalled EUR 6.5 billion in March 2008. As redemptions came to EUR 5.8 billion, net issues amounted to EUR 0.6 billion. The annual growth rate of the outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents (excluding valuation changes) was 1.3% in March 2008, the same as in February. The annual growth rate of quoted shares issued by non-financial corporations was 1.2% in March 2008, compared with 1.3% in February. For monetary financial institutions, it increased from 0.5% in February 2008 to 1.1% in March. For financial corporations other than MFIs, this growth rate was 2.3% in March 2008, compared with 2.4% in February.
The outstanding amount of quoted shares issued by euro area residents totalled EUR 5,553 billion at the end of March 2008. Compared with EUR 6,505 billion at the end of March 2007, this represents an annual decrease of 14.6% in the value of the stock of quoted shares in March 2008, compared with an annual decrease of 7.6% in February, mainly due to market valuation changes.
