SIFs rethink strategies to face turmoil

SIF (financial investment companies) managers say Romanian capital market turmoil is far from ending, expecting steeper stock price declines in the following period. Against this backdrop, short-term speculations become SIFs’ main profit source. With a total wealth of 2bn euros, the five SIFs are among the biggest asset managers on the Romanian capital market and top the list of BSE investors, earmarking tens of million euros for investments. The dramatic events of the past weeks, when stock market indices displayed extreme fluctuations as a response to foreign news about Greece’s situation and EUs 750bn euro bailout, upset SIF’s investment strategies. “Stock exchange trends of the past weeks show something specific to a crisis period. We must adjust our investment strategies to market volatility, so that we are now drawing up our strategies on short term, even weekly. I have a feeling that phenomena similar with those we have witnessed will be even more frequent and we’re expecting deeper declines during the following period,” said Costel Ceocea, SIF Moldova (SIF2) chairman.