Helsinki stocks recorded their steepest one-day decline of 2026 on Monday, as a broad technology sell-off pushed the market sharply lower and Nokia shares fell by more than 10 per cent. The Helsinki Stock Exchange’s general index ended the session down 2.99 per cent, exceeding the previous largest daily decline of the year, when the index fell 2.7 per cent in March.
Nokia was at the centre of the sell-off, recording its biggest daily decline of the year and leading trading volumes in Helsinki. The company’s shares came under heavy pressure as technology stocks were hit across international markets.
The weakness was not confined to technology. Finnish industrial companies also recorded substantial losses, with Wärtsilä closing 6.9 per cent lower and Metso down 5.2 per cent.
The move came amid growing concern in the global technology sector about the pace of artificial intelligence development. Executives at several US AI companies have called for greater caution around the development of increasingly capable systems, particularly over safety and monitoring.
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei wrote on Saturday that companies should slow the advance of AI model capabilities while strengthening monitoring. Other industry executives have also backed stronger safety measures. Those concerns contributed to a wider reassessment of technology stocks as investors weighed the prospects and risks surrounding the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence.
Wall Street also opened lower on Monday, with technology companies among the main sources of pressure. Higher oil prices and expectations of a US Federal Reserve interest-rate increase during the week added another layer of uncertainty for investors.
The Helsinki market’s decline was accompanied by a separate and far more severe sell-off in Summa Defence, a Finnish defence and security technology company facing a serious liquidity crisis.
Summa Defence said on Monday that its working capital had been exhausted and that its liquidity had deteriorated significantly. The company said it did not currently have additional financing sufficient to secure the continuation of its operations under its previous plans. Without immediate financing or other arrangements to improve liquidity, it said it could not meet payment obligations as they became due.
The company’s shares fell by roughly 47 per cent during Monday’s trading to around EUR 0.20, according to Finnish media reports. The decline added to an already dramatic fall in the company’s share price this year.
Summa Defence is now examining several possible ways to stabilise its financial position. These include potential proceeds from the sale of assets or subsidiaries, additional financing and strategic reviews involving IntLog, Lightspace Group and Aquamec. The company is also assessing whether it meets the conditions for corporate restructuring.
The company has warned that there is significant uncertainty around the outcome. If it cannot secure sufficient financing or another viable solution, its parent company could face bankruptcy. That remains a risk rather than an event that has already occurred.
Summa Defence was listed on the Helsinki market in June 2025, and its shares had already lost about 90 per cent of their value since the beginning of 2026 by the time of Monday’s crisis.
The contrasting developments underline the different pressures facing companies listed in Helsinki. Nokia’s decline formed part of a broader international technology sell-off, while Summa Defence’s collapse was driven by a company-specific liquidity problem.
Even after Monday’s sharp fall, the broader Helsinki market remained higher than at the start of the year. The general index was reported to be about 9.6 per cent above its 2026 starting level, leaving the day’s decline significant but not enough to erase the market’s gains for the year.
The episode nevertheless marked one of the most difficult trading sessions for Finnish equities in 2026, with pressure on major technology and industrial stocks arriving alongside an acute financing crisis at a smaller listed company. Nasdaq’s Helsinki All-Share Index tracks all shares listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange and currently contains 145 components.
