At around 10:40 local time (GMT0740), the Bucharest Stock Exchange’s composite index BET-C was down 1.67%, while the main index BET was losing 2.04%.
The US Federal Reserve voiced concerns over the economic recovery and investors feel the bank’s measures to support growth will only have limited effects.
A new $400 billion short-term treasuries program launched by the Fed on Wednesday was not enough to alleviate concerns and stocks worldwide took a dive.
BET-FI, which tracks the regional investment funds SIFs and Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO), retreated 2.02%, while the wider BET-XT was shedding 1.89%.
The energy index BET-NG was down 0.9%, with leading oil company OMV Petrom (SNP.RO) losing 2.49% at RON0.29 a share.
Overall trading was 2.67 million lei (EUR0.62 million), with RON1.3 million coming from Fondul Proprietatea deals. The fund’s shares fell 2.33% at RON0.4405.
Regional investment funds SIF Transilvania (SIF3.RO) and SIF Moldova (SIF2.RO) were down 3.23% and 3.96% on the day, respectively, while lenders Erste Bank Group AG (EBS.RO), Banca Transilvania (TLV.RO) and BRD (BRD.RO) were losing between 2.1% and 4.8%.