Shares in Petrom, the largest company listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, swiftly crossed the psychological barrier of 4,000 ROL per share this Tuesday, taking the value of the company to above 6 billion euros and close to that of its majority stakeholder OMV, which is valued at 6.6 billion euros on the Vienna Bourse.
When the company was floated on the stock exchange in September 2001, one Petrom share traded for around 400 ROL and the company was valued at 600 million euros.
Petrom closed on Tuesday at 4,100 ROL per share, a 5.9% gain, bringing the company's capitalisation to 6.15 billion euros.
Petrom shares were the most traded shares on Tuesday, which saw the transfer of 31.5 million shares with a value of 3.4 million euros.
The increase to the oil company's stock gave a boost to the entire market, and, as a result, the main index of the market, the BET, gained another 2.3% to reach a new historical peak. Tuesday's trading session also confirmed the trend of continuous growth in transactions on the market, with the total value of traded stock reaching 12 million euros. SIFs reported average 2.6% advances, and the stock of the top three banks listed on the market also enjoyed significant gains.
Some brokers explained the increase in the company's share value in terms of the interest shown by institutional investors, in particular foreign investors, who buy stock with the intention of keeping it for several years. Others, however, maintained that prices were pushed higher in recent weeks by small Romanian investors rushing to buy shares.
"Retail investors made a very powerful contribution to recent transactions. The mass media has provided a lot of information as to the gains that can be derived on the stock market and many small investors have been buying stock," said Florin Aldea, a director with Alpha Finance, the stockbrokers owned by Alpha Bank.
"Indeed there are many Romanian investors buying because they are aware of the market growth, but they are not creating the market trend. The record high reached by Petrom during the Monday session was the trading minimum on Tuesday, and it is only major investors that are dealing in the sustained acquisitions that have been seen over the last few days," explained Alin Brendea, an operations manager with Prime Transaction. vlad.nicolaescu@zf.ro
