CNSM: Risk in Romanian capital market stays high amid stock exchanges' fast, anticipatory response to stressors

  The risk in the Romanian capital market stays high and on an upward tend amid the stock exchanges' fast and anticipatory response to any stressors that could disrupt economic, social or political developments, shows the Annual Report of the National Committee for Macroprudential Oversight (CNSM) for 2021.The liquidity risk on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) remains medium, the document notes.According to the report, the average daily value of trades in 2021 was 11 percent down from 2020. BVB's capitalization fully recovered from the plunge registered in 2020, standing at 229 billion RON as of end-December 2021, by about 48 percent higher compared to December 2020."The two major segments of the Romanian capital market, specifically collective investment undertakings and the stock market, experienced moderate volatility in 2021, correlated with a similar trend observed for most capital markets in the region. All stock market indices recovered in 2021 from the previous losses, and the BET index reached a new all-time high of over 13,000 points after the significant fluctuations triggered in 2020 by the outbreak of the health crisis," the report writes.The stock market's capitalization was by roughly 48.40 percent higher on December 31, 2021 compared to the end of 2020 and approximately 53 percent up on January 26, 2022 from the end of 2021. As against the end of 2019, the capitalization was roughly 30.41 percent up, indicating that the market value of the local companies listed on BVB's main market had topped the pre-pandemic level.At the end of 2021, the international stock exchanges had a comeback, after recording the most significant deterioration in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. International stock markets grew significantly over July-August due to a strong positive investor sentiment, the cited report states."The indices of the Romanian stock market saw positive developments at the end of 2021 compared to December 31, 2020. The main BET index, which tracks the most liquid companies on the BVB regulated market, was 33 percent up as of December 31, 2021 compared to the end of 2020. The BET-TR total return index (dividends included) saw the most significant growth rate - 40 percent, while the sectoral energy and related utilities index BET-NG was 29 percent up as of December 31, 2021 compared to the year before," the report states.