Bulgarian Share Indices End Mostly Up in Falling Turnover

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), rose 0.81% to 444.09 points and the broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, added 0.79% to 120.78 points.

Turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, fell to 680,000 levs ($513,000/348,000 euro) from 845,000 levs on Tuesday. Trade in compensatory receipts accounted for 147,000 levs of the daily turnover.

The compensatory receipts, issued to indemnify former property owners for assets confiscated during the Communist era which could not be restored to them in their original form, can be used as means of payment in privatisation tenders.

On Wednesday, 35 stocks rose, 30 fell and 16 closed flat.

All 20 blue chips were traded with one ending unchanged, six closing lower and the other 13 gaining ground.

Blue-chip fertilisers maker Neochim closed flat at 30.5 levs in a volume of 175 shares.

Corporate Commercial Bank led the SOFIX decliners with a daily drop of 2.5% to 58.5 levs as 100 shares were traded.

Hydraulic equipment producer M+S Hydraulic topped the SOFIX leaderboard with a gain of 9.09% to 5.7 levs as just 30 stocks changed hands.

The BG-REIT, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, was the only index to close lower, giving up 0.3% to 47.21 points. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, advanced 0.37% to 338.09 points.

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, fell 0.23% to end at 63.89 points.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)