Record-high stock market capitalisation
The market cap of all companies listed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange has reached the highest level in history
Mihai Pelin, 19.12.2023, 14:00
The market worth of the over 370 companies listed with the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) went beyond EUR 60 bln for the first time in history at the end of the first 11 months of this year. Market capitalization has gone up 43% this year alone.
In fact, in the past 6 years the market value of all the companies listed with BVB has doubled. Since the start of this year, the Romanian stock market has seen two-digit increase rates for all stock exchange indices. The BET, covering the most liquid 20 companies listed with the BVB, rose by 26%. The BVB listed companies have come to account for 21% of the countrys Gross Domestic Product for 2022.
The positive trend in the stock market was influenced, among other things, by the listing this year of the energy producer Hidroelectrica, in the largest IPO in Europe so far, as well as by the continued Fidelis state bond programme, by the increase in the number of investors to a record 168,000, and by the projects implemented by BVB as a market and system operator.
On Monday, transactions totaled more than a quarter of a billion euros. In the regulated market, the most traded stocks were Hidroelectrica, OMV Petrom and Romgaz. Also on Monday, the Bucharest Stock Exchange saw another record, with the main index BET up 0.41% in the longest upward trend of the past year.
The combined worth of all the BVB-listed companies today is the highest in history, and we believe this to indicate as clearly as possible the extent of the countrys economic development, namely that a strong economy can only be based on a strong stock market, the BVB president Radu Hanga said. He explained that in the last 5 years alone, the Romanian stock exchange saw the listing of over 175 financial instruments with a combined worth of EUR 10.8 bln.
The stock market growth is not accidental. According to iBan First, one of the worlds main payment service providers, Romania had the highest economic growth rate in the EU-roughly 800% in the past 20 years. According to a report of the institution, Central and East European countries have better economic growth rates than Western Europe, and their GDP will go up twice as much as the Euro zone average in 2023-2026.
The strengths of Central and East European countries include the young, educated, highly skilled workforce and the around 30% smaller salary costs. At the same time, the region is a significantly large market, with rising purchasing power and a developing middle class, which generates high demand for Western products, the report also reads. (AMP)
