Bucharest Stock Exchange passes RON 300 billion mark

The Bucharest Stock Exchange recently crossed the RON 300 billion threshold and marked its eighth consecutive session and the longest series of increases.

The market value of companies listed on the BVB has increased significantly and reached the highest level in history. Specifically, the capitalization of all 371 companies listed on the BVB, both on the Regulated Market and the Multilateral Trading System, exceeded for the first time the level of RON 301 billion at the end of the first 11 months of this year. Of this figure, RON 287 billion represents the capitalization of the 85 companies listed on the RM, and RON 14 billion is the capitalization of the 286 companies on the MTS.

Since the beginning of this year, the benchmark BET index has shown a return of 32.6%, while the dividend index BET-TR reached 40.8%. Banks led the gains in Monday, December 18 session, with Banca Transilvania advancing 2.6% and BRD up by 1.6%. Banca Transilvania, Romania’s largest bank, reached a record valuation of RON 19.7 billion. Telecommunications group Digi also registered gains, and so did energy giant Hidroelectrica.

The capitalization of Romanian companies listed on the BVB increased by 127% from RON 97 billion in 2018 to RON 220 billion this year. "Companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange now represent 21.3% of Romania's GDP for 2022. The value of all companies listed on the BVB is today at the highest level in history, exceeding RON 300 billion. We believe these data are elements that outline a very clear picture of economic development, namely that we can have a strong economy only through a strong stock exchange,” said Radu Hanga, President of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, cited in a BVB press release.

At the end of the first 11 months of this year, the BET index reached 14,712 points, which means a growth of 26.1% achieved just this year. The index that includes dividends, BET-TR, closed the last trading session of November at a level of 30,371 points, which corresponds to an increase of 33.9% so far this year. The energy and utilities companies index, BET-NG, increased by 26.8%, to 1,080 points at the end of November, while the BET AeRO index reached 945 points, up 14.2% in the first 11 months of the year.

The strong positive development of the capital market was influenced, among other things, by the listing of Hidroelectrica, the largest IPO in Europe so far this year, the continuation of the Fidelis state bonds program, the increase in the number of investors to a record level of 168,000, as well as projects carried out at the BVB level, as a market and system operator.