The value of transactions had dropped, prices were already numb, while the brokers were busy planning their summer vacations.
Two weeks ago, the Bucharest Stock Exchange was beginning to feel the first signs of the summer lethargy and not even the most optimistic investors could have predicted the rush that came out of the blue.
The apathy was quickly broken by several million dollars spent by some foreign investors and the Stock Exchange reached a new all-time high last Friday, following spectacular increases last week.
The BET index, which mirrors the evolution of the market's top ten stocks (among which SNP Petrom, the Romanian Development Bank, Banca Transilvania, drugmakers Antibiotice Iasi and Terapia Cluj) closed at 1,867.04 points on Friday, up 12.54% since the beginning of the year. This jump, which does not consider the dividends or free shares granted by the companies, is already above the banking rates, which provide a 6.5-7 percent gain for six months.
The BSE capitalisation has gained 450 million dollars since the beginning of the year, up to 3.3 billion dollars.
Following last week's increases, the market can already count several investors that logged 30-40% gains in several months for stocks such as Petrom, Banca Transilvania and Impact.
In fact, the Petrom stock was again behind the bullish market. The oil company's shares have gone up 12.10% since the beginning of the month. Petrom share price skyrocketed last week, when a group of foreign investors bought shares worth some 2 million dollars.
Petrom's evolution enlivened most of the other significant stocks - drugmaker Antibiotice has increased 19.17% in June, fertiliser plant Azomures - 11.36%, pharmaceutical company Sicomed - 20.83%. Moreover, the BET-FI index, mirroring the evolution of Financial Investment Companies (SIFs) has added 10% in the past two weeks.
But what's with these increases during a time of the year that is generally characterised by slight price drops and significant liquidity slumps, based on the Sell orders issued by the small investors going on holidays? Is this a sign pointing to the long-awaited arrival of the foreign investors?
"I believe so. After all, Petrom alone absorbed several million dollars last week, and this money could not have come from Romanian investors. However, there's always money for investments on the Stock Exchange: it just needs a boost to go back into the market, such as last week's Petrom increase, for instance," says Grigore Chis, trading manager with SIVM Broker Cluj, one of the market's biggest brokerages.
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