THE QUOTATION OF THE BSE, ONE OF THE BIGGEST GAINERS Brokers: The listing of the "Proprietatea Fund" causes the price of BSE shares to rise

The shares of the Bucharest Stock Exchange gained 23.6% since December 2010, reaching 45 lei/share, at the end of Friday"s session, making it one of the largest gainers in the market.

Brokers say this increased interest in the stock of the BSE has increased on the back of the high expectations around the "Proprietatea" Fund, set to take place on January 25th this year.

Răzvan Paşol, the chairman of brokerage firm "Intercapital Invest", considers that the reasons that caused investors to buy Fondul Proprietatea shares are the increased liquidity, the listing of the Proprietatea Fund, and the overall rise of the market. He says that individual and institutional investors alike will continue to be interested in buying shares of the BSE. According to him, the listing of the Proprietatea Fund will be crucial for the evolution of the price of the BSE"s stock.

Florin Ilie, head of the Capital Markets Department at ING ING Bank, considers that the evolution of the price of the shares of the BSE this year will depend on the evolution of its daily turnover.

Even though the shares of the BSE have seen a major increase since the beginning of December 2010, Nicolae Gherguş, the managing director of "Confident Invest", finds that in Q4 2010, the BSE had weak revenues. "In the medium term, the shares of the BSE will see a positive evolution, provided the market"s liquidity will increase", Nicolae Gherghuş added.

Florin Cătinaş, trader at brokerage firm WBS Romania, considers that there were three reasons which caused the rise of the shares of the BSE: "the rising trend of the global markets, the expectations of a much higher daily turnover after January 25th, after the listing of the Proprietatea Fund (meaning more revenues from trading commissions for the BSE) and the possible accumulation by investors interested in the shares of the BSE".

Florin Cătinaş had the following to say on the factors that will influence the evolution of the quotation of the BSE, this year: "The factor which may be felt first will be the effective turnover of the shares of the Proprietatea Fund. Most likely it will take 2-3 weeks to confirm or to invalidate the expectations on the great interest of major investors in the Proprietatea Fund. In turn, the rumors and discussions on the merger with the Sibex will also affect the price of BSE shares. The overall evolution of the exchange, depending on the market volumes and its overall trend, will determine what the charts will look like this year."

• Răzvan Paşol: "The BSE could receive a bid from a foreign stock exchange"

"Amid the consolidation process of the foreign exchanges, there is the possibility of the BSE being acquired by one of the major foreign stock exchange operators", considers Răzvan Paşol.

However, in order to make the Bucharest Stock Exchange attractive to the foreign stock market operators, it needs to solve its issues, broker Mihai Chişu considers. "The moment the exchange truly becomes viable, only then will it be really a good buy", he added.

Nicolae Gherguş said that the 5% cap on voting rights, required by law in the case of stock exchange operators, represents a hurdle towards an acquisition of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

In the first three quarters of 2010, the Bucharest Stock Exchange recorded a net profit of 6.17 million lei, 5.3% lower YOY. Its turnover increased 23.7% to 11 million lei, during the same period, thanks to its revenues from raising its trading commissions, from the dissemination of market information, commissions levied on issuers and brokerage firms as well as from IT services.