Romanians buy 222m euro-shares in January

The number of Romanian individuals buying from the Stock Exchange each month reached a new all-time high in January, topping 12,500, almost 2,000 accounts higher than at the end of last year. The 10,000-buyer threshold was topped for the first time at the beginning of 2005, when the downward trend followed by interest rates for bank deposits made more and more Romanians turn towards the Stock Exchange. Acquisitions made by Romanian investors also hit a record level of almost 222 million euros, with sales also reaching an all-time high. However, in this case, a large part of the transactions were conducted during the offer launched by the Czechs at Zentiva to buy 49% in Sicomed Bucharest. Foreigners bought shares worth over 125 million euros from the Stock Exchange, but 37 million euros of them represented the value of shares bought by Zentiva as part of their offer. Thi s transaction aside, acquisitions by foreign investors are about eight million euros higher than the previous maximum level set in November. "More and more Romanians go as far as taking out bank loans to fund their acquisitions on the Stock Exchange", says Adrian Ceuca, deputy chief executive at SSIF Broker. ZF