Brokers May Have To Change Holiday Plans

For years, brokers have been enjoying Christmas and New Year"s Day away from the office, as the Stock Exchange is closed in that period. "It was only in 1998 that the Stock Exchange was open on 31 December," a broker said. Therefore most of them had probably made plans for the winter holidays, counting on a closure of the bourse until the early days of 2009. However, a proposal made by the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) could change that.

Eager to align their availability to that of European exchanges, which remain open between Christmas and New Year"s Day, BVB has raised this topic for debate. BVB President Stere Farmache told Bursa that a decision had not yet been made on the matter, but an official announcement would clarify everything in the following few days. If the proposal is accepted, investors will be able to perform transactions on 29-30 December. Also, in such case, BVB will be aligned to the other EU bourses, such as those in Warsaw, Budapest, Prague or Madrid, which remain open on 27-30 December each year.

According to Mihai Chisu, a broker for IFB Finwest, the proposal is welcome, because developed markets are busy until the last day of the year. Nevertheless, he does not expect too many customers to trade on BVB in the last few days of the year. "Give or take a few days, the overall liquidity will remain the same, that is, quite low. Around 1 million EUR, except for the days when IPOs take place," he said.

Chisu believes that, under the current circumstances, it is only the performance of international financial markets that can change anything on BVB. Extending the working days and the opening hours is not likely to influence the value of transactions.

Petru Prunea, CEO of financial investment firm Broker - Cluj Napoca, believes that BVB"s idea is "absolutely normal," considering both economic factors and the moral obligation derived from the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, he, too believes that the trading volume will remain low. "Only some of our staff will work in that period, but there will be enough people on duty to continue operations properly," he said.

Razvan Pasol, CEO of Intercapital Invest, does not believe that the trading volume to be achieved in the year-end period will justify the proposal to keep BVB open between Christmas and New Year"s Day. However, he announced that, if the proposal is accepted, the number of employees and opening hours of Intercapital Invest would be the same as on regular business days. He commented that the proposal had been announced early enough to allow brokers to change their holiday plans.

Brokers will be able to state their view on the matter until 3 December. Although the idea to work between Christmas and New Year"s Day may not seem such a joy at first site, it is fully justified by the current market conditions and ongoing concerns about the near future, among both brokers and BVB management. In the past few years, when the market was growing, profit targets would have been achieved long before the year-end, so everyone could afford days off.