The average daily value of transactions performed on the Bucharest stock market with all types of financial instruments grew 137% in May compared with April, from RON39.5 million to RON93.9 million, the capital market operator said in a report Thursday.
In the first five months of the year, the liquidity of the capital market in terms of average daily trading value reached RON70.9 million, up 37% compared with the same period in 2020.
On the shares segment, daily liquidity stood at RON35 million in May compared with RON33 million in April. The biggest growth rate was recorded on the fixed income instruments segment, which exceeded RON56 million in May.
Growth in investment activity took the local capital market to new highs in May, with the BET index hitting an all-time high of 11,763 points on May 12 and the BET-TR showing a record of 19,986 points on May 24.
In the first five months, the BET grew 16.6% and the BET-TR by 18.9%.
“Market data show that bonds have become the new flagship instruments of the stock market, and the average daily value achieved by the bond segment has increased significantly. Bonds attracted an additional RON50 million in a single month, which is a possible signal that Romanians have begun to move money from deposits to the stock market, in search of higher returns,” said Radu Hanga, president of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.
Bucharest Stock Exchange CEO Adrian Tanase added that the stock market saw an influx of new activity with thousands of first-time traders.
“In almost 12 months, 15,000 new investors have opened trading accounts, according to Investor Compensation Fund data. The medium-term development prospects of the stock market also show an increasing number of issuers of financial instruments. In addition, almost 280 companies will be able to benefit from support for listing in the next 5 years through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, and the stock market can propel their development,” he said.
Investment activity on the Bucharest stock market is on an upward trend in 2021 after record results in 2020 when investors traded financial instruments totaling RON18.3 billion, the highest annual value ever recorded on the main segment of the Romanian stock market and 25% higher than the previous record from 2007.
In September 2020, the global index provider FTSE Russell promoted Romania to the Emerging Market status.
The capitalization of local companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange has exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Romanian companies listed on the main market reached a total capitalization of RON120 billion.