Petromidia shares resumed trading yesterday 13% down after the suspension of trading that followed the detention of Dinu Patriciu, Rompetrol''s main shareholder, by prosecutors and their attempt to secure a warrant for his arrest, which was denied by the judges.
Petromidia lost 60 million euros of its market value yesterday, bringing the total fall since the start of the investigation to 280 million euros.
The BET index, which charts the most important companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BSE), yesterday reached an all-year low due to the heavy selling of Rompetrol Rafinare (Petromidia) shares and the reluctance of investors to buy shares in the other companies on the market.
The BET ended the day 1.1% lower than on the first trading day of the 2005 and 5.9% lower than at the end of last week.
Transactions in Petromidia shares accounted for more than one quarter of total operations on the market. From the opening of the session, buyers and sellers were engaged in a fierce battle, which saw the sellers gain ground over the buyers. The company''s shares continued to fall throughout the day, with investors dumping more than 40 million shares on the market. After having reached a low of 721 ROL, Petromidia ended the day at 725 ROL.
"The fall has been due to the uncertainty surrounding the situation with both Patriciu and Petromidia''s privatisation. I believe the shares should remain suspended from trading until things clear up," said Rares Nilas, BT Securities general manager. Together with other members of the Rompetrol group, Patriciu is being investigated in connection with the Petromidia privatisation. He has been accused of money laundering and fraud.
Patriciu has threatened to demand "hundreds of millions of dollars" in damages from the state due to the manner in which the Prosecutor''s Office handled his detention.
The total capitalisation of the BSE dropped below 10 billion euros yesterday, after having reached 14 billion euros at the end of February. The companies listed on the market shed 560 million euros in value yesterday alone.
Brokers believe the entire capital market is currently going through a bad phase, with the overall market being dominated by uncertainty and negative news, such as the failure of the referendum in France, which could delay Romania''s accession to the European Union.
"It is not just about the detention of Patriciu. There are many reasons for the decline of the market: from the referendum in France to the possibility of early elections," said Bogdan Trandafir, a BCR Securities analyst. "The state of mind on the market is very bad, with all investors acting as if they want to dump their stocks and pull out of the market."
Other listed shares also suffered low trading values caused by a lack of buyers rather than a large number of sell orders.
Another significant decline came from the other petroleum company on the market, Petrom, which ended the day at 3,320 ROL, down 7.8%. Banca Transilvania shed nearly 6% while the SIFs were something stronger and lost 3% on the average.
Some brokers say there is no clear connection between Petromidia''s decline and the fall of the other listed companies. vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
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