Romanian Stock Indices Retreat on Correction, Profit-Taking

The blue-chip BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BVB, fell 4.35% to 3,218.82. The BET-FI index, which tracks Romania's five regional investment funds, the SIFs, dropped 5.7% to 15,320.22 points.

The composite BET-C index closed 4.19% lower at 2,427.20. The ROTX index of Romania's 15 most liquid stocks, a joint index of the BVB and the Vienna Stock Exchange, was down 4.6% to 7,315.47.

"The bourse closed on a very positive note yesterday, but global markets weakened today and set the trend, and investors indulged in some profit-taking. So far it’s only a correction. I hope that the market will find its support level, maybe 5.0% lower than today, but no more," one broker told SeeNews.

BVB's turnover fell to 21.6 million lei ($7.3 million/5.7 million euro) from 29 million lei on Monday. The number of shares traded on Tuesday decreased to 61 million from 110.8 million on Monday.

The five SIFs were the most traded shares on Tuesday in terms of value, accounting for nearly 60% of BVB’s turnover.

“The share price of the SIFs is very low and that stimulates speculation and the opening of new positions. It is much easier for speculators to buy larger volumes of shares than it was a year ago,” the broker said.

SIF 4 Muntenia was the biggest loser among the SIFs, tumbling by 7.59% to 0.67 lei in the day’s highest turnover of 4.7 million lei. SIF 5 Oltenia plunged 6.59% to 0.78 lei in the day's second largest turnover of 2.3 million lei. SIF 1 Banat Crisana dropped 3.57% to 0.675 lei in the day’s third highest turnover of 1.9 million lei.

Blue-chip oil and gas group Petrom lost 5.96% to 0.205 lei on 1.6 million lei turnover, while blue-chip oil refinery Rompetrol Rafinare plummeted by 8.89% to 0.0246 lei on 381,000 lei turnover.

Blue-chip bank BRD depreciated by 5.82% to 8.9 lei on 1.5 million lei turnover. Blue-chip power grid operator Transelectrica fell by 7.59% to 13.4 lei in 842,000 lei turnover. Romania’s largest fertiliser maker, Azomures, plummeted by 12.85% to 0.278 lei in 1.5 million lei turnover.

The BET-XT index, which tracks the 25 most liquid blue-chip companies, including the SIFs, lost 4.44% to 316.44 points. The BET-NG, which includes companies from the energy sector and utilities, slumped 6.36% to 412.36.

Rasdaq-C, the composite index of the RASDAQ over-the-counter market, shed 1.17% to 2,417.89. Turnover on RASDAQ dropped to 2.5 million lei from 12.9 million lei on Monday, when a total of 117.5 shares, or 14.1%, of Romanian hotel operator Compania Hoteliera Intercontinental Romania changed hands for 11.7 million lei .

(1 euro = 3.7787 Romanian lei)