Bulgarian Stocks Extend Gains in Slim Volumes

The SOFIX index, which includes the 20 most liquid stocks on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), rose 3.0% to 344.49 points, and the broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, added 0.9% to 101.24.

“The trading was calm and extremely illiquid. I have a feeling that a small number of investors remained on the market, mostly speculators which take a shot at catching an upward movement after recent falls,” Angel Dimitrov, a broker with Ug Market brokerage, told SeeNews.

Bulgarian benckmark SOFIX registered sharp drops last week plunging to a five-year low on Thursday.

Dimitrov added that the positive sentiment on Monday spilled over from foreign markets where stocks posted hefty gains after the U.S. government late on Sunday unveiled a multibillion rescue package for Citigroup.

BSE's turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, jumped to 36.5 million levs from 2.0 million levs on Friday.

Monday’s turnover was lifted by deals in fuel retailer Petrol, which traded in large volumes last week as well. Petrol rose 4.76% to 11.0 levs in volume of over 1.9 million shares.

Bonds contributed with 12.7 million levs to Monday’s turnover.

On Monday, gainers outnumbered decliners by 64 to 34 and six shares ended unchanged.

The BG-REIT index, tracking the performance of real estate investment trusts, added 2.67% to 47.63 and the BG TotalReturn30 (BG TR30) index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, went up 1.88% to 272.14 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, advanced 3.86% to 54.41 points.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)