Bucharest, October 19, 2023 – by Bogdan Maioreanu, eToro analyst and markets commentator – Romanian investors are very confident in their investments and prepare to contribute more to their portfolios this quarter, reveals the latest eToro Retail Investor Beat survey. They are attracted by technology and AI is entering Romanian investors portfolios both as an investment and also as a tool to help investors pick assets and manage their investments
The recent US stock market rally was driven by technology and especially AI. This is also highlighted by Romanian investors who showed an increased interest for related long term investment themes like digital transformation (AI, VR, cloud computing). Their percentage increased from 34% in March to 42% at the end of Q3. The rise of AI is starting to reach investors’ portfolios,19% declaring that they are using AI in managing their investments and 43% being ready to try. 42% of investors ready to use AI believe that this is the future of investing and 37% use it to save time doing their research. One quarter believe that AI will make better investment decisions than them.
Meanwhile, following the scandals that rocked the crypto domain, the investors’ interest in long term investment themes like crypto assets and digital payments decreased from 45% to 36% in the last 6 months. So far, 82% of Romanian investors are very confident in their investment choices.
While the percentage of investors having crypto assets in their portfolio increased from 49% to 54% in the past 6 months, the assets’ importance in the investors’ portfolios decreased. Only 11% have more than half of their portfolios formed by crypto as opposed to 18% 6 months ago. Also, only 4% have more than three quarter crypto in their portfolios as opposed to 8% at the end of March this year.
The reason for which Romanians are diverse. Most investors (55%) are looking to supplement their income, others (49%) are looking toward long term financial security, 46% are trying to achieve financial independence and 37% are having a retirement related goal. So far only 9% of investors are not managing to achieve their goal while 39% said that they are, while for 51% it is too early to say.
Investors are trying to reach their investment goals using different classes of assets. More than half of Romanian investors (54%) are having a form of crypto asset in their portfolios, 49% are investing in BVB (Romanian Stock Market), and 35% are investing in foreign equity markets. In this period of high interest rates, 43% of Romanian investors are having in their portfolios domestic bonds or fixed income instruments and 30% own a form of commodity (oil, gold, silver, copper, etc). Forex is another popular category, 59% of investors investing in it and 72% also having cash in their portfolios. This high level of investors having cash means that they are preparing to invest more in the near future. This quarter 50% of Romanian investors are looking to increase the amount they contribute to their portfolios while 45% will keep it the same.
When it comes to stocks, 65% of Romanian investors have invested in Financial services institutions (banks and insurance), 47% own companies from the Technology sector, 44% own Real Estate (REITS), 43% Utilities and 40% Energy (Oil, Gas), shows the latest eToro Retail Investor Beat survey.
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Bogdan Maioreanu, eToro analyst and markets commentator, has over 20 years of experience in financial services and investments and a strong background in journalism. He held different Corporate Banking management positions in both Raiffeisen Bank and OTP Bank, before moving to business consultancy roles working for IBM Romania among others. Bogdan is an Executive MBA from Asebuss and Washington University.
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