Strong start of the year for Bucharest Stock Exchange

The Bucharest Stock Exchange had a strong start to the year, posting increases of 12.5% of the BET index tracking the top ten listed companies and of 22% of the BET-FI index monitoring the trend of financial investment companies, including FP shares in the first quarter.

Out of the 76 stocks listed on the Bourse, four registered growth of above 50%, 25 posted increases of between 10% and 50%, and another 14 gained 0.1% to 10%. The rest of 34 companies ended the first quarter down. Among liquid stocks, the biggest gains were offered by SIF Oltenia (SIF5), with a 33% increase, followed by SIF Muntenia (SIF4), with 32%.

FP shares, the most liquid on the Bourse, however, lost 5.7% against the closing price of the first trading day. Still, FP stock transactions reached 1.4bn lei, driving the traded value in the first quarter to 3.15bn lei, 3.8 times above the fourth quarter, 2010 level, 821m lei. In the first quarter of 2010, Bourse transactions had come to 1.75bn lei.

The capitalisation of BSE companies climbed by almost 5bn euros in the first quarter, to 28.7bn euros, with 2bn euros as FP contribution.