ZF. Today’s opening at the Stock Exchange. What can move liquidity at BVB? Lucian…

Although the daily average liquidity of all financial instruments on the Stock Exchange since 2024 has increased considerably as a result of the latest issue of Fidelis government bonds – the 16th issue, the largest so far, the turnover in the share segment continues to show signs of weakness, but a potential impetus can be given by the decisions of the general meetings of shareholders at the end of the month, through which dividends will be approved that can later return to the market, says Lucian Isac, CEO of the Estinvest brokerage house.

“I believe that the situation will improve with the effective entry of dividends. With the end of April, the general meetings will also end, and after that money will start entering the market. However, I would not have expected that the Romanian market would have had such a good evolution since the beginning of the year”, says Lucian Isac.

Even after two consecutive weeks of declines, the BET index remains up 10% since the beginning of the year, above the developed stock markets in Western Europe. Otherwise, the dynamics of the local indices in 2024 are between plus 1.4% on BET-FI, the index of the former SIFs and Fondului Proprietatea, and 10.2% in the case of BET-TR, which includes the dividends allocated to investors, according to bvb .ro.

“In 2024, although companies reward their investors through price evolution, perhaps unexpectedly well for many of us, liquidity is below average. I was hoping that, with the appearance of the reports, there would be a little more agitation. Now I think there are two aspects. On the one hand, we have institutions, both Romanians and foreigners, who easily buy,” adds the CEO.

Stock market participants are currently hoping for a potential promotion of the Bucharest Stock Exchange to emerging market status in the Morgan Stanley Capital International indices, continues Lucian Isac. The event could bring the BSE closer to the radar of large institutional investors, which could then be reflected both on the quotations and on the daily liquidity. The local stock exchange is already classified as an emerging market in the FTSE Russell indices.

“I don’t know if the MSCI upgrade will be this year or next year. Perhaps there is the possibility that, in addition to the Romanian institutions, Pillar II, which is a constant buyer, has also met foreign institutions that accumulate easily, especially with issuers that have confirmed and that would give substantial dividends. So I think there are more institutionalists than speculators.”