Bulgarian Stocks Advance in Scant Volumes

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), picked up 0.89% to 451.26 points after gaining 0.62% a day ago. The broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, added 0.36% to 122.54 points after a rise of 0.52% on Tuesday.

Total turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, dropped to 653,000 levs ($501,000/334,000 euro) from 3.0 million levs on Tuesday when volumes were lifted by trading in cigarette factory Slantze Stara Zagora.

On Wednesday, internet media group Investor.bg was among the most actively traded in a volume of 17,604 shares. It rose 2.04% to 9.5 levs.

A total of 39 stocks rose, 22 fell and six closed unchanged on Wednesday.

Eighteen blue chips were traded, of which seven ended down, two were unchanged and the rest closed higher.

The most liquid blue chip was industrial group Chimimport which rose 1.39% to 2.55 levs in a volume of 16,662 shares.

The BG-REIT, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, climbed 2.18% to 48.76 points after falling 0.35% on the previous day. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, gained 0.78% to 343.28. The index rose 0.43% 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, edged up 0.17% to 65.03 points after adding 1.39% a day earlier.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)