The SOFIX index, which includes the 20 most liquid stocks on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), ended 1.98% lower at 353.81 points, and the broader BG 40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, inched up 0.12% to 105.32.
"After three days of gains, the downturn was normal. It is not a surprise," Nadia Nedelcheva, a financial analyst with local brokerage Karoll, told SeeNews.
"There have been no strong movements in the U.S. and Europe these couple of days and it was logical that trade here would be calm," Nedelcheva said.
BSE's turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, decreased to 3.0 million levs ($2.0 million/1.5 million euro) from 4.2 million levs on Tuesday.
Shares of blue-chip fuel retailer Petrol, a major turnover contributor last week, surged 14.89% to 11.5 levs in a volume of 5,736 shares.
Blue-chip industrial group Chimimport and its subsidiary Central Cooperative Bank, also a blue-chip, were most traded on Wednesday. Close to 35,000 stocks in Chimimport changed hands, sending it 3.04% lower at 2.07 levs. The lender closed 1.02% lower at 0.97 levs as 44,546 stocks were traded.
On Wednesday, decliners outnumbered advancers 56 to 28 and 11 shares ended unchanged.
"The consolidated financial results due by the end of the week will be interesting for market players [...] to see what are the effects of the crisis on the companies," Nedelcheva said, adding that the negative expectations have already been calculated into the share prices.
The BG TotalReturn30 (BG TR30) index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, fell 2.18% to 275.95 points, while the BG-REIT index, tracking the performance of real estate investment trusts, added 0.23% to 47.53.
The Dnevnik 20 index, calculated by local business daily Dnevnik from the share prices of the 20 leading companies in terms of liquidity and market capitalisation, dropped 1.76% to 55.94 points.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)
