Investors are attracted to the Nordic countries for many reasons some of which include low to zero budget deficits, strong social and political systems, tradition of research and innovation, advancement in green technologies, sound banking systems, etc. Norwegian firms are leaders in crude oil exploration and drilling, Danish companies excel in the wind power and healthcare sectors and Swedish firms are known for their strong positions in the retail, telecom and automotive industries.

The STOXX Nordic 30 Index contains 30 Blue-Chip stocks in the Nordic region that includes Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. These bluechips are listed below together with their ADR ticker:

[TABLE=655]

Some points about the Nordic stocks noted above:

• After many strategic missteps mobile phone maker Nokia(NOK) is trying to take market share in the smartphone market.
• Among the Nordic banks, banks from Sweden were heavily exposed to the former Baltic countries such as Lativa, Lithuania, Estonia etc. that almost went bankrupt a few years ago.Now banks such as Swedbank(SWDBY)[not in the table], Nordea Bank (NDBAY) have wrote off most of the losses and have stronger balance sheets.
• Finnish insurance company Sampo and utility firm Fortum have traditionally paid high dividends.
• Oslo,Norway-based Yara(YARIY) is the world’s largest supplier of mineral fertilizers with operations in more than 50 countries. As corn, wheat and soybean prices rallied last month the stock price of Yara reached a two-year high.