October 18 (SeeNews) - The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) is expected to see more volatility in the last quarter of this year, in line with international markets, as investors fear rising interest rates and potential recession in developed markets, CEO Adrian Tanase said.
Stock indices fell sharply in September, sending most international equity markets into correction territory, the BVB said in a press release on Monday.
"We expect volatility to manifest itself in the capital market in the last quarter of the year, but the level of amplitude cannot be estimated. That is precisely why, for individual investors, the best strategy is to set a longer investment horizon, and for companies, it is an opportunity to take advantage of the mechanisms made available by the capital market," Tanase said.
"The energy and financial sectors hold an important weight in the capital market in Romania, and it is precisely this structure specific to our market that mitigated the negative investment sentiment manifested at the level of international indices," Tanase added.
The BET-TR total return index of the BVB, which also include dividends, ended the first nine months with a double-digit dip of 10.5%, in lockstep with -11.7% for S&P500 in the U.S. and -18.2 % for the STOXX600 in Europe.
"The investors raised an important alarm signal in September in most international capital markets, not only in Romania. The return of volatility in the markets after a calmer level of trading in the summer months brings with it new trading opportunities," BVB president Radu Hanga said.
"Romania was more resilient than other developed capital markets in this complicated international context. We are witnessing a wave of negative data that has led to a deterioration in investment sentiment, especially after it became clear that central banks will raise interest rates, leading some investors to expect an economic slowdown," Hanga added.
The investment activity intensified in September on the Bucharest Stock Exchange surpassing 140,000 transactions, the second-highest monthly number so far this year.
On the regulated market, the total trading value in the first nine months reached 17.3 billion le ($3.44 billion/ 3.50 billion euro), up 34% compared to the same period of last year. The average daily trading value for all traded financial instruments was 91.5 million lei in January-September, up 34.8% on the year.
Most traded companies during the first nine months of the year were oil and gas group OMV Petrom with 2.12 billion lei turnover, investment fund Fondul Proprietatea with 1.68 billion lei and lender Banca Transilvania with 1.63 billion lei. Next were BRD Bank – Groupe Societe Generale with 723 million lei and natural gas producer Romgaz with 467 million lei.
OMV Petrom's shares traded 0.95% higher at 0.4240 lei as at 1307CET on Tuesday, Fondul Proprietatea's shares changed hands 1.88% higher at 1.8440 lei and Banca Transilvania traded 1.74% higher at 17.5 lei. BRD's shares added 1.77% to 11.52 lei by 1308CET whereas Romgaz traded 1.53% higher at 39.9 lei as at 1307CET.
(1 euro=4.9357 lei)
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