Bucharest Share Indices Edge Higher, Ivestors Shift Focus to OTC, Less Liquid Stocks

The blue-chip BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, edged up 0.22% to 4,397.40 points. The BET-FI index, which tracks the country’s five regional investment funds, the SIFs, added 0.44% to 25,278.20 points.

The composite BET-C index climbed 0.43% to 2,657.78 and the ROTX index of Romania's 15 most liquid stocks, a joint index of the BVB and the Vienna Stock Exchange, gained 1.01% to 9,385.53.

BVB's turnover rose to 49.5 million lei ($17.3 million/11.8 million euro) from 34.1 million lei on Tuesday, including 21.4 million lei worth of bonds. The number of traded shares increased to 96.8 million from 56.6 million on Tuesday.

“Recently we’ve noticed that investors’ attention towards less liquid companies and some of those listed on the RASDAQ has risen. I think investors have started to notice that there are many companies whose share prices have not gained much and have quite a potential,” one broker told SeeNews.

Oil and gas company Dafora slid 1.67% to 0.18 lei in the day's largest turnover of 5.3 million lei. “Dafora will be a blue-chip [starting on Thursday], it also may win a big contract with [Romanian gas producer] Romgaz. I should also mention speculative trading as well as it gained 85% in two weeks,” the broker said.

Austria’s Erste Bank jumped 4.47% to 131 lei on deals worth 5.2 million lei, Wednesday’s second largest turnover. SIF 5 Oltenia dipped 0.78% to 1.28 lei in the session’s third largest turnover of 2.3 million lei.

Blue-chip brokerage SSIF Broker gained 5.02% to 0.251 lei in a turnover of 1.8 million lei. Blue-chip lender BRD closed 0.78% lower at 12.5 lei in 1.5 million lei turnover, while its blue-chip peer Banca Transilvania rose 1.27% to 1.6 lei in 1.6 million lei turnover.

Blue-chip oil and gas group Petrom ended unchanged at 0.265 lei in deals worth 864,000 lei.

SIF 2 Moldova fell 0.85% to 1.17 lei in 1.1 million lei turnover, while SIF 1 Banat Crisana 2.46% to 1.25 lei in 950,000 lei turnover.

The BET-XT index, which tracks the 25 most liquid companies on the bourse, including the SIFs, was up 0.24% to 448.32 points. The BET-NG, which includes companies from the energy sector and utilities, ticked 0.1% higher to 590.84 points.

Turnover on the RASDAQ jumped to 7.6 million lei from 3.2 million lei on Tuesday. Rasdaq-C, the composite index of RASDAQ, rose 1.8% to 2,219.50.

(1 euro = 4.1932 Romanian lei)