Panic leads to suspension of stock exchange deals

Trading on the Bucharest and Sibiu stock exchanges was suspended yesterday, two hours after the trading session started, due to a plunge of market indexes.

The BET index of the top 10 companies in terms of liquidity dropped 9.25 percent, as investors panicked due to a swift depreciation of U.S. and Asian stock market indexes.

Lenders are also facing difficult times, leading central banks to cut key interest rates aimed to help banks cope with the financial turmoil. Locally, people with large bank deposits have decided to distribute their funds to more lenders or to invest money in state shares, to lower risks.

"European states are taking any measure to prevent economies from collapsing. Key rate cuts have helped stock markets recover," said EFG Eurobank Securities Trading Manager, Laurentiu Floroiu.

Other stock markets besides Romania closed down: Russia, Indonesia, France and Ukraine. "The market is on survival mode," said Ralph Sueppel, Chief Economist of London-based BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd., quoted by Bloomberg.

Business Standard