Pandemic did not harm Warsaw Stock Exchange

“We were all worried then, not only about GDP, the results of individual countries or broken supply chains, but most of all we were worried about our life and health. As a result of the prevailing fear, in March last year, we saw sharp drops in stock exchanges around the world. Investors were concerned that the results of many companies would deteriorate sharply due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, after a few weeks, at the end of March, we could observe a sharp boom and a rebound. These increases, in principle, continue on most companies and indices until today,” Przemysław Gerschmann, Advisor to the WSE Management Board, said.

Last year's drops on the global stock exchanges were really big. As a result of the March sell-off, the WIG and WIG20 indices lost around 40 percent. Some analysts compared these events with the great crisis of the 1930s. However, at the end of March last year, stock exchanges began to rebound.

“Currently on the stock exchanges, we observe the so-called climbing the wall of fear. Indices and companies are growing, but much slower than in March 2020. Interest rates around the world remain at record lows. Despite this, Poles and citizens of other countries do not give up on saving money by keeping them in bank accounts,” Gerschmann explained.

"Moreover, safe assets such as gold and bonds are still very popular. This may indicate that real gains are still ahead of us," he added.

Despite the fact that the past year was a difficult time for investors, it did not discourage them from investing in the stock market. The number of brokerage accounts increased by 85,000 during the year (including the removal of 60,000 inactive accounts from the register in September). The number of brokerage accounts also translated into the share of individual investors in turnover on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Last year, they were responsible for a quarter of the turnover on the WSE Main Market.

(WBJ)