Twenty of the biggest funds active on the Bucharest Stock Exchange owned around 1.1 billion euros in Romanian shares at the end of August, double last year's value.
The increase is due to the positive trend of listed shares, as well as to new investments made by funds. Investments by foreign funds accounted for about 3% of the total capitalisation of the Romanian market at the end of August, which amounted to some 33 billion euros.
Romania's accession to the European Union has generated a constant wave of foreign investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange this year, with some of the biggest global fund managers directing their attention towards the Romanian market.
The inclusion of Romanian shares in the regional and global indices calculated by Morgan Stanley and Dow Jones has led to the entry onto the Romanian market of some major investment funds that use these indices to build their portfolios.
The big names that entered the market this year include JPMorgan, which invested more than 20 million euros through two funds at the end of August, Morgan Stanley - 2.6 million euros, and Credit Suisse - 1.3 million euros.
These funds, which have a regional presence, have a low exposure on the Romanian market, compared with their net assets, which are worth billions of euros.
The foreign funds with the biggest investments on the Bucharest Stock Exchange have been present on the market for at least one year, but have significantly increased their stakes since the beginning of 2007.
The number of foreign funds active on the Stock Exchange has doubled this year, considering the number of buy accounts of foreign legal entities went up from around 100 last year to 187 in August.
Net foreign investments amounted to almost 540 million euros in the first eight months of the year compared with around 220 million euros in 2006. @N