Romania’s stock exchange outperformed most European peers in Jan-Oct

Boasting a yield of 40% (including dividends) delivered to investors in the first ten months of 2019, the Bucharest Stock Exchange ranked as the second best performing stock exchange in the European Union, after the Athens Stock Exchange (+48%) according to data aggregated by Ziarul Financiar.

Expectations for further growth were generated by the new Government taking office in November, but more concrete steps must be seen before the market reacts, analysts consulted by ZF explained.

Greece’s outstanding performance came after several bad years (on low base), analysts said. But Romania’s stock exchange also owes part of its year-to-date growth to the plunge taken during the last days of 2018 when the Government endorsed aggressive fiscal and regulatory measures (ordinance 114/2018).

Notably, in the case of the Greek Stock Exchange, the dynamics of the main index includes the effects of the dividends paid by the big companies.

On the other hand, the Warsaw Stock Exchange - the largest in the region by capitalization, is down from the beginning of 2019, and the Sofia Stock Exchange posted the weakest performance (-6.3%).

The weak correlation among the dynamics of the main stock exchanges in the region thus reflect rather domestic development than regional patterns, ZF concluded.

(Photo: Diana Oros/ Inquam Photos)