The company that operates the Bucharest Stock Exchange has every opportunity to end 2009 at the edge of profitability, as the average daily turnover for stock trading hardly meets the annual target set by the management of the BSE.
The Board of the Stock Exchange this year calculated that the Stock Exchange would only be profitable for its shareholders if it reached an average daily turnover of EUR 5 million. the information posted on the BSE website shows that the daily turnover of the BSE is around EUR 5.7 million, which at a first glance would suggest that the Bucharest Stock Exchange has reached its target for this year.
Upon closer analysis, the average daily turnover of stock trades dropped significantly from EUR 7.5 million a day in 2008, while the daily turnover of bonds transactions increased almost five times, slightly above EUR 1 million. Numbers show that the honor of the BSE was saved by bond transactions; missing that, the Stock exchange would have most likely posted operating losses.
Earlier this year, Mr. Dan Paul, the vice-president of the BSE, stated for us that the Bucharest Stock Exchange still has foreign currency deposits in excess of EUR 15 million, in order to appease concerns about any liquidity concerns of the Stock Exchange.