The capital market is recording a very good evolution, and if we look at the BET index, it has displayed a 35% return since the beginning of the year, a performance that is also very good, said Alexandru Stefan, director of Indices and Market Data at the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), on Wednesday.
"I would say that, currently, there is a very good evolution of the market. If we look at the BET index, it has shown a return of 35% since the beginning of the year, which is a very good performance. I was talking about that total return index, if we include dividends in this performance, we reach over 42% since the beginning of the year. It is, practically, a top 5 performance in the last 10 years. In the last 5 years, if we look, we are currently in 2nd place and there are prospects of reaching first place in terms of return," said Stefan, at a specialized event, agerpres reports.
He claimed that, in May, the BET index was at minus 3% amid uncertainty related to the presidential elections, but also to the economic situation in the country.
"If we go back to May, now we are at plus 35% for the BET index, in May we were at minus 3%. Why, it is understandable. Because there was uncertainty regarding the presidential elections, but after the elections and the favorable result perceived by the market, we can see what performance we have. This was certainly not the only fact - the presidential elections and the result - that led to this performance. You mentioned the fiscal-budgetary measures. We believe that these also contributed to a performance, because, if we remember, in the summer the issue of a potential downgrade of Romania's country rating from investment grade, which is currently junk, was very serious. We believe that it was extremely important that this did not happen, that the three major rating agencies, Fitch, S&P and "Moody's, they maintained Romania's country rating," the BVB official added.
Despite that period of uncertainty, the number of individual investors also increased.
According to the cited source, currently, 274,000 investors have accounts opened on the stock exchange, and of the total, over 50% are active. There are also over one million investors in investment funds.
"If we look at last year, we have an increase of about 28%, but if we compare it to the last 5 years, the increase is over 300% in the number of investors who invest directly on the stock market. If we look at all the instruments traded on the market, we also have an increase in liquidity, compared to an average over the last 5 years. If we look only at the stock market, I think that this year we are relatively close to last year and the average of the last 5 years. What else would I add in addition to this number of investors who invest directly on the stock market, because the other aspect also matters, are those investors who invest through investment funds, somehow indirectly on the stock market, and that number has grown just as much. We are currently talking about over a million investors in investment funds. The year "This has exceeded one million investors, the increase is similar in percentage terms to that of direct investors on the stock exchange. Likewise, we are talking about an increase in the value of the net assets that those investment funds have, which was also seen in the appreciation of the indices and, practically, in the appreciation of the stock exchange quotations," Alexandru Stefan argued.
However, compared to European stock exchanges, "it is clear that we still have room to grow." In terms of value, the stock market currently exceeds 60-65 million lei in average daily traded value, and if we include all instruments, it approaches 100 million RON.
"So, from this perspective, there is room for growth and there is opportunity both in the area of investment funds and in terms of the number of investors. I expect the trend to continue in this direction and it can be seen from the figures, at least the trend is a clear one of growth," said Stefan.
The BVB representative stated that it is important to diversify the savings that people have.
"The stock market and the entire capital market ecosystem has been digital and electronic since the beginning. That certainly helps. Facilitating access to investments, democratizing investments for the general public certainly contributes and helps the population's participation in the capital market. Why is it important for the population to participate as much as possible in the capital market? We need to have a diversification of the savings that people have. Instead of keeping their money, I know, only in savings accounts or in cash accounts or even in bank deposits, we need to have a diversification. Investing in stocks, investing in bonds has a higher risk, but at the same time... We are starting, however, from a small base, from a few years ago. "I would say that the growth rate in the last 2-3 years is consistent. If we continue like this, we will reach some generous figures in the medium term, 3-4 years from now. I think the trend is encouraging, that is, we see that more and more people are interested in how they can invest, what the investment entails, what the risks are, what the potential return is. And the macroeconomic context has helped, this context in which we have high inflation, of course people have looked for alternatives," he explained.
Alexandru Stefan drew attention to the fact that in this area too it is necessary and important to have a predictable regulatory framework and a predictable fiscal framework.
"We do indeed have the prospect of changing the rates (of capital gains taxation, ed.), starting next year, from 1% to 3% and from 3% to 6%. We have signaled and continue to say that it is very important to have a predictable regulatory framework and a predictable fiscal framework to let the capital market continue to develop as it has shown to have developed since the favorable measures were introduced in 2020," he said.
Alexandru Stefan participated, on Wednesday, at the Conference "The Future of the Financial System in the New National and Global Context - Risks, Opportunities and Anchors", dedicated to the field of Finance & Banking & Insurance & Leasing & Capital Market. The event is part of the series of international conferences "Bucharest Leaders' Summit - A Road Map to the Future", organized by the MediaUno Press Group between November 3 and 21, 2025.
Comentează