The blue-chip BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, fell 2.8% to 3,065.32. The BET-FI index, which tracks Romania's five regional investment funds, the SIFs, lost 6.18% to 14,112.17 points.
The composite BET-C index closed 4.99% lower at 2,238.62. The ROTX index of Romania's 15 most liquid stocks, a joint index of the BVB and the Vienna Stock Exchange, was down 4.93% to 6,714.48.
"The indices fell because the US market fell yesterday and we followed suit today," one broker told SeeNews, adding that liquidity was very low.
BVB's turnover fell to 12.8 million lei ($4.1 million/3.3 million euro) from 16.7 million lei on Wednesday. The number of shares traded on Thursday nearly halved to 43.3 million from 80.1 million on Wednesday.
"Today's falls show that investors are pretty hesitant and are waiting for more clear signs from foreign markets," the broker added.
Austria’s Erste bank, the first foreign stock traded on the BVB, fell 14.92% to 53.6 lei in the day’s highest turnover of 1.49 million lei. SIF 5 Oltenia lost 7.24% to 0.705 lei in the day's second largest turnover of 1.36 million lei. Blue-chip oil and gas group Petrom dropped 4.71% to 0.182 lei in the day’s third highest turnover of 944,534 lei.
SIF 3 Transilvania lost 6.02% to 0.328 lei in a 901,209 lei turnover. Blue-chip bank BRD lost 4.60% to 8.3 lei in 429,180 lei turnover.
Blue-chip real estate developer Impact Developer & Contractor was among the few stocks to close higher on Thursday, jumping 14.88% to 0.0494 lei in 190,037 lei turnover.
The BET-XT index, which tracks the 25 most liquid blue-chip companies, including the SIFs, lost 3.95% to 297.48 points. The BET-NG, which includes companies from the energy sector and utilities, dropped 4.46% to 378.72.
Rasdaq-C, the composite index of the RASDAQ over-the-counter market, fell 1.09% to 2,381.94. Turnover on RASDAQ fell to 2.6 million lei from 8.3 million lei on Wednesday, when U.S.-based oilfield services company Weatherford International Eastern Europe raised its holdings in architecture and engineering company Atlas G.I.P. to some 95.8% after acquiring a 9.8% stake for 6.9 million lei.
(1 euro =3.8419 Romanian lei)
