Bulgarian Stock Indices Gain Ground, Turnover Halves

The SOFIX, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), rose 2.44% to 501.73 points and the broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, advanced 2.28% to 135.26 points.

On Tuesday the SOFIX gained 1.46% and the BG40 added 1.27%.

Turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, fell sharply to 2.38 million levs ($1.79 million/1.22 million euro) compared to the 4.9 million levs in the previous session.

Hydraulic equipment maker M+S Hydraulic was the sole SOFIX member to close lower on Wednesday, losing 0.17% to 6.0 levs as 476 shares changed hands.

The biggest SOFIX gainer was construction and energy group Enemona, which ended 8.4% higher at 11.60 levs in a volume of 17,257 shares.

Blue chip Central Cooperative Bank was the most liquid issue on Wednesday as 96,013 shares changed hands, gaining 2.33% to 1.63 levs.

On Wednesday, 70 stocks advanced, 14 lost ground and 12 closed unchanged.

The BG-REIT index, tracking the performance of real estate investment trusts, added 1.91% to 46.31 points after inching 0.04% down on Tuesday. The bourse's BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, rose 2.25% to 367.59 points after adding 1.46% on Tuesday.

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, advanced 1.69% to 70.93 points after rising by 1.37% on Tuesday.

(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)