Romania champions CEE growth on main stock exchange index in Q1

The Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) said that the number of transactions and traded volumes climbed to a 7-year high in the first quarter of 2017, with the average trading value gaining 61 percent to an average of EUR 9.6 million in the first three months of this year versus the same period of 2016.

The BVB added that the value of transactions on the regulated market climbed to a 6-year high of RON 2.4 billion.

In the first quarter, the BET-TR index, which tracks companies from the BET index and their dividends, reached the 10,000 points mark for the first time in history.

The BET index, which follows the evolution of the most liquid companies listed at BVB has increased by almost 14% in the first quarter and had the best evolution among the markets of the European Union.

According to data published by the BVB, Romania had the highest growth rate of its main index of the stock exchange in the first quarter, gaining 13.89 percent. Poland came second with a growth of 8.11 percent, while Bulgaria and Czech Republic expanded by 8.11 percent and 6.46 percent, respectively. The main stock exchange index in Hungary, meanwhile, fell by 1.15 percent.

“The fact that we had the biggest increase in EU and that we had a higher rate of increase than the biggest market in the region, Poland, it represent a strong signal that investors have in relation with the evolution of the Romanian capital market,” said the CEO of BVB, Ludwik Sobolewski.

“Investor expectations of dividend policy, macroeconomic developments beyond positive economic growth in the European Union, but also the fact that the local market is closer to be promoted to Emerging Markets by FTSE Russell and that three companies meet already the criteria required by MSCI shows us that we are on the road on which Romania matter increasingly more in the region”, said Lucian Anghel, chairman of BVB.