Romania’s Stock Market Sees Major Growth, BET Nears Record High

Romania’s stock market is recording one of the biggest gains in Europe, and investors are optimistic about the continuation of the trend, as more companies are expected to list on the stock exchange, reports Bloomberg.

The BET index had a return of almost 40%, in dollars, in the last 12 months, the fifth best performance among the more than 90 stock indices tracked by Bloomberg.

Even after the decline in August, the BET index is close to its all-time high, having risen in 13 of the last 15 months.

The initial public offering, in the amount of 1.8 billion dollars, carried out last year by Hidroelectrica SA brought even more foreign investors to Romania. This also helped to revive the interest of local investors in the stock market, boosting valuations and the volume of transactions, even if the latter remains low compared to international standards.

Although the growth rate of the Romanian economy has slowed down, estimates point to a recovery, thanks to interest rate cuts and the moderation of price increases. The improvement of macroeconomic perspectives adds to the bets that the capital market in Romania will be improved by MSCI, possibly even next year, to the status of an emerging market, from the current state of the frontier market.