Brokers say that a single foreign investor, who received an order to sell everything in Romania, could be responsible for this dramatic evolution, but others say the main reason is investor panic, after several large funds began selling.

Most affected were oil company Petrom and lender Banca Romana de Dezvoltare (BRD), each losing over 9 percent, while Banca Transilvania (BT) lost 6 percent.

“This was mainly panic selling, since there is nothing positive to sustain the market. After some investors began selling, a snowball effect engaged the entire market,” said Liviu Giugiumica, Manager of CA IB Securities.

Brokers also say that “alarming” reactions by some businessmen influenced yesterday’s evolution, adding that drops will continue.

BET-C, the index of listed companies, lost 6.7 percent, the biggest drop in the last year and a half. Financial investment companies (SIF) were subject to less depreciation than other companies on BVB. The BET-FI index of SIFs lost over 4 percent.