Bucharest Stocks Sink To 12-Month Low On Global Woes

Romanian shares were strongly impacted since pre-opening by the fall of US and Asian markets, which lost up to 5%.

Therefore, the Bucharest bourse opened down and deepened its loss towards mid-session, as foreign investors are dumping risky assets in the current macreconomic context.

At around 13:00 local time (GMT1000), the composite index BET-C was down 6.5%, at the lowest level since July 2010.

The main index BET declined by 5.9%, while the energy index BET-NG was down 7.5%.

BET-FI, the index tracking Fondul Proprietatea (FP.RO) and the regional investment funds SIFs, fell 6%, while the wider BET-XT was shedding 6.2%.

Fondul Proprietatea opened down 4.23% at RON0.475 a share, the lowest price since its listing in January. They recouped slightly, and traded down 4.17% at RON0.4753 at 13:00 hours.

Overall trading value was significantly larger than the average for this period, at RON72.7 million (EUR17.2 million).

"I would say there is room for more corrections. I don't think it's an exaggerated decrease. Most probably, most investors believe the recent developments are just the tip of the iceberg," Adrian Barbulescu, deputy operational manager with brokerage house Prime Transaction, told MEDIAFAX. (EUR1=RON4.2419)