At the end of March 2023, BET recorded a decrease of 1.62% MoM, amounting to 12,111.50 points. Meanwhile, in Q1 2023, it grew by 3.84%.
The latest trading activity report has been published by the Bucharest Stock Exchange, for the month of March 2023. Starting off with the highlights first, BVB notes that seven listings took place in Q1 2023 on the exchange, with a total value of EUR 428m. Of this, EUR 427m pertains to 6 bond issuances, while EUR 1m is one equity issue. They also note that in the last 5 years, 156 rounds of financing (involving either equities or bonds) with a cumulative value of EUR 6.5bn were carried out on the Exchange.
BVB also notes that the capital market in Romania recorded an increase of 3.8% in Q1, but this is true if we look at the BET-TR index, which also includes dividends.
In terms of the trading value, the total equity turnover amounted to RON 1.2bn in March 2023, representing an increase of 125% MoM, but a decrease of 27% YoY. Here we can see that even though the situation is somewhat improving with the trading volume, it is still below March 2022’s level. The report notes that the growth in the capital markets in Q1 (in terms of BET-TR) also came with a reduction in overall liquidity, something which we can see here. It should also be noted that March 2022’s trading level is somewhat of an outlier, as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia started in February, which led to a lot of uncertainty and volatility in capital markets across the world, Romania included.
In March, 23 trading days were recorded, which would mean that the average daily turnover amounted to RON 52.5m, which is an increase of 96% compared to February 2023’s level of RON 26.9m, but the same 27% decrease from March 2022’s level of RON 72.3m. Meanwhile, BET recorded a decrease of 1.62% MoM in March 2023, while in the first quarter, it increased by 3.84%.
Performance of BET constituents in March 2023 (MoM, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Taking a look at the BET constituents’ performance in March 2023, the largest monthly increase was recorded by BVB, which grew by 13.5%, followed by SFG with 6.5% growth, Nuclearelectrica with a 4.6% increase, DIGI with 4.3%, and Purcari, with 3.4%. On the other hand, the largest relative decrease was recorded by BRD, which decreased by 10.4%, Alro, which declined by 8.4%, ONE, which decreased by 7.6%, and Transelectrica, which decreased by 5.9%. In fact, out of the 20 members of the index, only 8 recorded an increase, while 12 decreased.
Performance of BET constituents in Q1 2023 (QoQ, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Meanwhile, on a quarterly basis, the situation seems a lot better for the majority of the companies. This is due to the fact that out of the 20 index members, only 3 recorded a decline. In terms of growth, BVB again leads the way, this time with an increase of 33.7%, followed by Aquila at 24.6%, SFG at 16.4%, Transgaz at 13.3%, and Conpet, at 11.2%. The majority of the remaining companies with positive growth (10 to be exact) recorded an increase of over 5%. On the flip side, the largest decrease was once again recorded by BRD, which declined by 8.6%, followed by ONE with a 3.3% decrease, and Banca Transilvania, with a decrease of 2.1%.
