BVB takes largest plunge in past nine months

The general index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) yesterday took the steepest dive in the past nine months, i.e. 5.05 per cent, amid a record trading in excess of RON 100 M this year, Mediafax reports.

Brokers explained the loss by the evolution of the Bourse being correlated with the sharp downtrend on international capital markets, those in Asia and the United States, especially.

“On the stock exchanges in Asia and the United States, the slumps had some macroeconomic implications as well, yet, the relevant connection between our market and those markets is rather weak. In Bucharest, correlation with international bourses refers more to capital flows, and presently, the panic among investors takes on global proportions,” Iulin Panait, an analyst with KTD Invest, said, quoted by Mediafax.

The stock of 55 of the 60 companies listed on the BVB went down and five stagnated at the level of the previous trading session. The BET-C composite index, which shows the overall evolution of the stock traded on the BVB fell 277.72 points, to 5,219.19, whereas the BET index, which reflects the most liquid 10 shares listed, was down 441.64 points (5.19 per cent), to 8.073.33 points. Financial investment companies were the most seriously affected, down 6.78 per cent. The last session where SIF stock registered such steep dive was on May 23, 2006, when quotations were down 7.06 per cent SIF Oltenia stock transfers accounted for 2 per cent of the volume of all shares traded, RON 20.8 M, a record value for the issuer in 2007. The company stock fell 6.5 per cent, to RON 2.88/apiece, the lowest quotation since last September. SIF Moldova registered a similar depreciation, 6.47 per cent, at a volume of RON 17.5 M. The last price came to RON 2.60/apiece. SIF Banat-Crisana nose-dived by 8.2 per cent, to RON 2.69/unit, amid a liquidity of RON 10.6 M. The five-biggest companies listed on the stock exchange suffered close losses, of 5-6 per cent. Transelectrica’s was the most abrupt of them all, 6.54 per cent. Petrom stock fell 6.09 per cent, to RON 0.54/apiece, the lowest in six months, and the volume of transactions totalled RON 5.76 M.

Nine O'Clock