The monthly number of buyers on the Bucharest Stock Exchange exceeded 5,000 at the end of last year for the first time in the history of the market.
Four years ago, for example, the number of investors buying stock ranged between 1,000 and 2,000 per month. On the stock exchange, the number of investors active over a year amounts to several tens of thousands.
Brokers say that the higher interest in listed stock is due to "wicket customers", most of whom use money from banking deposits, set up a stock portfolio and afterwards do not trade the stock very often, preferring medium and long-term investments.
"Currently, there are many customers who come and give their money, then you buy stock for them and afterwards they do no more trading for a long period of time because they prefer investing in the long term. Most of them come up with money from banking deposits," said Rares Nilas, manager of Banca Transilvania's brokerage company, BT Securities. He added, however, that the level of sums investors transfer from banking deposits to stock placements is insignificant when compared to the total amount of deposits of the banking system.
In fact, the growth in the number of buyers on the stock exchange has recently overlapped with the changes to interest rates on the market, the decrease in which is mostly responsible for attracting increased numbers of investors. The slump in the national bank intervention rate from 34% in April 2002 to below 18% in March 2003 meant the stock exchange witnessed an increase in the monthly number of buyers from around 2,000 to over 4,000. The resumed drop in interest rates in the middle of last year only brought about an increase in the number of investors, which reached over 5,000.
"Considering the slumps in interest rates and inflation of recent years and the positive yields on the stock exchange in 2002 and 2003, the increase in the number of investors on the stock exchange last year was only natural," said Valentin Ionescu, an operations manager with Euro Invest Vision brokerage company. He went on to say that he expected the number of investors on the market to continue to rise during the first months of this year, at least until it becomes clear how the new government will implement its policies. vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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