Bulgarian Share Indices Pull Back Sharply, Turnover Nearly Halves

The blue-chip SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), slumped 3.86% to 436.80 points. The broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, backed off 2.56% to 123.41 points.

The SOFIX inched 0.08% higher and the BG40 index fell by 1.04% on Friday.

Turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, fell to 1.446 million levs ($1.04 million/740,000 euro) from Friday’s 2.1 million levs.

On Monday 24 stocks ended higher, 56 lost ground and three closed flat.

Blue-chip fuel and building materials retailer Toplivo was the biggest SOFIX loser, falling 10.87% to 4.10 levs in a volume of 16,493 shares.

The second-worst blue-chip performer was investment company Albena Invest Holding which fell 7.39% to 5.0 levs in a volume of 350 stocks.

Blue-chip car battery maker MonBat plunged 7.30% to 6.35 levs in a volume of 5,351 shares, while stocks of blue-chip infrastructure group Holding Roads tumbled 6.55% to 3.61 levs in a volume of 9,027 shares.

Blue-chip lender Central Corporate Bank was the biggest gainer on the SOFIX, rising 3.77% to 55.0 levs in a volume of 533 shares. The two other blue-chip advancers on Monday were power tools maker Sparky Eltos, up 1.68% to 2.42 levs in a volume of 11,629 shares, and hydraulic equipment maker M+S Hydraulic with a gain of 1.55% to 3.80 levs in a volume of 29 shares.

The BG-REIT index, tracking the performance of real estate investment trusts, fell 0.33% to 41.97 points after adding 0.14% on Friday. The bourse's BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, dropped by 3.89% to 327.55 points, after advancing 0.63% on Friday.

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 by 3.8% to 64.28 points after climbed 5.8% on Friday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)