The Bucharest Stock Exchange fell yesterday almost 12%, in less than two hours since the beginning of one of the most spectacular recent trading sessions, to then close with a loss of 3.37%, by creating profit opportunities for the investors who were clever enough to profit from the carousel. Concurrently, the European exchanges were also recording losses of more than 5%, with the one in Bucharest replicating the foreign falls, but to a much greater extent.
Among the hardest hit stocks were those issued by the Financial Investment Companies (SIFs) and by the "Proprietatea Fund" (FP), as the BET-FI index had fallen by as much as 14% by lunch, sparking fears that the worsening drop would cause the trading session to be suspended. The lower fluctuation limit was later extended to 25% for the stocks of SIF "Banat-Crişana" (SIF1), SIF "Oltenia" (SIF5) and "Broker" Cluj (BRK), whereas the price of the Proprietatea Fund (FP) reached a new low since its listing, going below 0.4 lei/share.
The worries over a possible suspension of the trading session were assuaged by Valentin Ionescu, the general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, who urged for calm and who said that such a decision could only be made in exceptional situations, when the drops would be even greater than they were yesterday. The General Manager of the BSE expressed his hope that the drops would abate in the second part of the day, which they did.
The BET-FI index recovered from a drop of 14%, to one of 4.93% closing at 17,508.60 points, whereas the BET-NG index, which tracks the evolution of the energy companies on the BSE, has tempered its fall, from almost 14%, to 2.43%, at the end of the session.
The BET index, of the ten most liquid stocks on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, yesterday fell 1.97%, after it was falling like a rock in the morning, by as much as 11%.
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