The Bucharest Stock Exchange ended the first 11 months of this year very well, with a BET index increasing by almost 26% compared to the beginning of the year, and an advance of 3.3% in November alone, said Radu Hanga, the president of the Stock Exchange by Valori Bucharest, quoted by Agerpres.
“From the Stock Exchange’s perspective, we ended the first 11 months very well, with a BET index increasing by almost 26% compared to the beginning of the year and an advance of 3.3% in November alone. We ticked off the largest listing in the history of Romania the Romanian capital market but also the largest listing at the European level at the time when it took place and in the top three globally – the listing of Hidroelectrica. We had a very good year from the point of view of the evolution of the number of investors – we finished Q3 with almost 170,000 investors,” declared Radu Hanga.
As far as share funds are concerned, the evolution of their returns followed a rhythm similar to that of the market. The number of participants increased by almost 100,000 people from January 1 to October 30, that is, an average of about 10,000 new investors per month and a record total number of about 560,000 at the end of October.
“This comes with the fact that the number of investors in equity funds has increased by 13,000. We have, on average, 1,300 new investors every month since the beginning of the year, which shows confidence in fund managers. If we we look at the performances, at the end of October, the first five funds have returns of over 31% each, over the last 12 months, a significant return in conditions of maximum diversification – we are talking about open-ended actively managed investment funds or funds that replicate stock market indices,” said Horia Gusta, the president of AAF.
According to the data presented by Jan Pricop, executive director of AAF, in the third quarter of the year, total assets were almost 37 billion lei, of which 19 billion lei were net assets of open investment funds, the difference being assets of investment funds alternatives.
“The decrease in the level of assets of alternative investment funds is mainly due to that special dividend that Fondul Proprietatea granted to its shareholders, as a result of the sale of the share package in Hidroelectrica. Practically, the two components tend to equalize, after , at the end of 2022, the share of assets of alternative investment funds was significantly higher than that of open investment funds,” said Jan Pricop.
In terms of subscriptions, there was an increase of 300 million lei, a change in trend compared to the third quarter of 2022, when net outflows were recorded, and an increase compared to the previous quarter of 77%. At the same time, the number of investors in investment funds increased by almost 20%, from September 2022 to September 2023, with an advance of 6.3% in the third quarter, compared to the previous quarter.
Regarding the dynamics of assets by fund category, there is a general increase of 5.3%, the most important being registered at the level of share funds – an increase of almost 30% and an increase of 760 million lei. Increases were also recorded in diversified funds as well as in bonds and fixed income instruments.
“The outstanding performance of the local market this year was the result of a combination of factors, at the top of the list was the listing of Hidroelectrica, which attracted considerable sums of money from investors, who later returned to the market, set a new landmark for the local market in terms of valuation multiples and was the forerunner of Fondul Proprietatea’s extraordinary dividend distribution that supported market demand,” explained Robert Burlan, CFA, Head of Investment Management Raiffeisen Asset Management.