The BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange has lost 16% since the start of the crisis, while the German DAX dropped by 24% and the Dow Jones by almost 14%.
On the other hand, major European banks with a strong foothold in Romania saw their stocks plummet by over 10% at the end of last week.
Financial markets are increasingly worried about a return of recession, but there is also much speculation about possible cash shortages.
In Romania, T-bill yields are on the rise, but CDSs saw a slight decline, going below the 300 points threshold that was overshot again at the beginning of last week amid foreign market turmoil.
Moreover, JP Morgan announced it forecasts economic growth of just 1.2% for 2011, below the previous 2% projection.
Businessman Dumitru Tudor, one of the most powerful domestic investors on the bourse, believes the current situation is much more complex than that of 2008, when bourses nosedived and the world economy entered recession.
“I believe the current situation is quite serious. It all depends on what solutions governments will embrace and how quickly they will put them into effect,” said Dumitru Tudor.
Adrian Manaila, owner of Elda Invest, says: “The atmosphere is such because there has been more bad news than good ones lately. Oil had climbed to $110/barrel and everybody was confident economies would take off, but it’s now around $80/barrel and, together with DAX, shows the expected recovery is not happening.”
(English version by Catalina Apostoiu; Editing by Radu Bostan)