Bulgarian Stocks Decline, Turnover Doubles

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), dropped 2.65% to 417.49 points after falling 0.56% on Monday.

The BG40, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, fell 1.84% to 115.58 points after gaining 0.08% on Monday.

Total turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, doubled to one million levs ($0.74 million/ 0.51 million euro) from some 550,000 levs on Monday.

Twenty-five shares gained ground, 67 declined and 11 ended flat on Tuesday.

Only one of the 19 SOFIX companies that were traded on Tuesday closed higher. The others all ended in the red.

Central Cooperative Bank was the most liquid blue chip on Tuesday with 87,520 shares changing hands. The stock closed 2.77% lower at 1.23 levs.

Eurohold Bulgaria was the biggest faller among the blue chips on Tuesday with shares shedding 8.12% to 1.22 levs. The company stock was traded in a volume of 51,246 shares.

The BG-REIT index, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, declined 1.53% to 46.91 points. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, dropped 2.27% to 322.44.

On Monday, the BG-REIT declined 0.44% and the BG TotalReturn30 dropped 1.56%.

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, declined -3.28% to 59.3 points after a daily drop of 0.60% on Monday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgrian levs)