Romania Ranks 15th Among World’s Biggest Rising Stock Exchanges

2013 has been a very good year for the world’s stock exchanges, with an average rise of 12.4% for the 76 analyzed markets. 40 of the 76 markets have risen by a double-digit figure against the beginning of the year, according to a statistic published by US brokerage Bespoke Investment Group.

So the performance of the Bucharest Stock Exchange is all the more important. The Bucharest Stock Exchange ranks 15th among the world’s top rises, with a 22.5% increase of the BET index, the index that tracks the ten leading stocks on the Bucharest bourse. The BET rise is the highest in four years. In 2012 the BET index had gained 18.7% placing the Bucharest bourse among the top 25 rises worldwide.

The Romanian stock exchange has in the past two years benefited from the positive performance of US and Western European bourses and has managed to draw more interest from foreign investors through the listings of Nuclearelectrica and Romgaz and through other major transactions involving Petrom and Transgaz shares.

The star of the Bucharest bourse in 2013 has been Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO). With its 54% rise, it pulled the entire market up. Fondul Proprietatea is the most traded share on the Bucharest bourse, with a volume of over RON4 billion since the beginning of the year.

When it comes to the most liquid shares on the bourse (with daily transactions of over EUR100,000), big rises were also recorded by Banca Transilvania (TLV.RO) and Biofarm Bucuresti (BIO.RO), each with a  40% rise.

The shares of OMV Petrom (SNP.RO), the largest company in Romania, rose by 6.7% this year. The biggest bank, BRD, went up by 7.9% respectively this year. OMV Petrom and Banca Transilvania hold the biggest weight in the BET index, alongside FP and Banca Transilvania and the poor rises of Petrom and BRD dragged the index down.

The weakest performance of a BET company was that of Transgaz Medias, which fell 16%.

The world’s biggest rises this year were recorded by the bourses in Dubai (94%), Argentina (90%) and Abu Dhabi (56%).

Among the major bourses, the champion is Japan, with a 47% rise, followed by the US stock exchange, up 25%, and Germany, with a 19.35% rise.

(English version by Daniela Stoican)

Romania features in first quarter of the ranking                              

Top stock exchange rises worldwide                     

Source: Bespoke Investment Group