Romanian stock exchange boasts strongest YTD performance in Europe despite deep August dive

The BET index lost 6.7% in August, but still posted a 42.3% gain since the beginning of the year and a 67.4% increase over the past 12 months, ranking first on both horizons among a sample of 38 European national benchmark indices, Ziarul Financiar reported.

“The correct story is no longer ‘Romania, alone in Europe’, but ‘Central and Eastern Europe leads Europe, and Romania leads the region’,” said Alexandru Dobre, deputy general manager of TradeVille.

Hungary gained 33.1% this year, Poland 31.3%, Austria and Norway 28.8% each, Greece 27.4% and Bulgaria 22.9%.

The European median gain is 12.9%, while major Western European markets remain far behind: France is up 1.6%, Germany 6.3% and Britain 9.1%.

The gap between Bucharest and second place stands at 9.2 percentage points this year and 18.2 percentage points over the past 12 months.

The August decline was concentrated in the final trading sessions, with the BET falling 3.6% on August 31 alone, after Romania lost EUR 770 million in European funds by missing the deadline for adopting legislation required under the PNRR.

“Concentration remains the main risk: most of the index’s performance comes from a few stocks,” Dobre said.