September 24 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian stocks closed lower while turnover more than doubled on Thursday, bourse data showed.
The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), lost 3.23% to 489.82 points. The broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, dropped 2.39% to 132.53 points.
Turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, more than doubled to 8.8 million levs ($6.6 million/4.5 million euro) from 4.05 million levs on Wednesday.
On Thursday, decliners led advancers by 71 to 25, while 17 stocks closed unchanged.
Among the blue chips only Corporate Commercial Bank advanced, adding 2.15% to 55.98 levs, while the remaining 19 closed in the red. The biggest decliner was paint and varnish maker Orgachim, which plunged 6.67% to 98 levs.
Blue-chip drug maker Sopharma was heavily traded, generating a volume of 114,540 stocks. Its shares ended 5.87% lower at 4.15 levs.
The BG-REIT, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, ended 1.39% lower at 48.11 points. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, fell 2.82% to 365.05 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 slipped 2.83% to 71.39 points.
(1 euro=1.95583 Bulgarian levs)