Bulgarian Stocks Lose Ground in Meagre Volumes

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), and the broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, each fell by 0.63% to 451.23 points and 124.22 points, respectively.

On Thursday, the SOFIX rose 0.62% and the BG40 climbed 2.02%.

Total turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, dropped to 349,000 levs ($265,000/178,000 euro) from 1.1 million levs on Thursday when trading in bonds of Eurobank EFG Bulgaria contributed 505,000 levs to the daily turnover.

A total of 19 stocks rose, 26 declined and 17 closed unchanged.

All but two of the blue chips traded on Friday, of which two closed flat, five rose and the rest ended in the red.

Central Coopeative Bank was the most traded blue chip - in a volume of 31,611 stocks which ended 0.41% higher at 1.48 levs.

The BG-REIT, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, skidded 0.37% to 48.99 points, after gaining 0.84% a day earlier. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, slid 0.23% to 344.95 points after rising 0.71% the previous day.

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, lost 0.21% to 65.18 points after an increase of 0.45% on Thursday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)