Bulgarian Share Indices Mostly Gain Ground, Turnover Drops

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), gained 0.44% to 479.29 points and the broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, lost 0.53% to 128.72 points.

Turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, dropped to 817,000 levs ($622,000/418,000 euro) from 4.1 million levs on Tuesday when it was lifted by trade in industrial tocks.

On Wednesday, 43 stocks rose, 27 fell and 14 closed flat.

All blue chips were traded on Wednesday with five of them giving up ground, two closing unchanged and the rest advancing. Real estate investment trust (REIT) ELARG Agricultural Land Opportunity Fund led the gainers, surging 4.86% to 0.95 levs in a small volume.

The BG-REIT index, which tracks the performance of REITs, picked up 0.67% to 49.71 points. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, added 0.66% to 362.13 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, inched 0.14% higher to 69.63 points.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)