Bulgarian Stocks Mostly Gain Ground in Lower Volumes

The SOFIX index, which comprises the 20 most liquid shares trading on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE), gained 1.75% to 442.5 after a 2.07% drop a day earlier. The broader BG40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the bourse, added 2.31% to 121.16 points after falling 1.95% on Thursday.

Total turnover, excluding block and other pre-agreed deals, fell to 1.1 million levs ($834,000/562,000 euro) from Thursday's 1.28 million levs.

On Friday, gainers outnumbered decliners 40 to 20 and 13 shares ended flat.

Of the seventeen blue chips that were traded on Friday, one closed unchanged and the rest advanced.

Infrastructure group Holding Roads was the top SOFIX gainer, surging 5.96% to 2.65 levs in a volume of 15,783 shares.

Blue-chip energy, engineering and construction group Enemona was the session's most liquid stock as 34,065 shares changed hands, ending 1.52% higher at 10 levs.

The BG-REIT, which tracks the performance of real estate investment trusts, was the only index that backed off, losing 0.15% to 46.68 points. The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, added 1.52% to 338.27 points

On Thursday, the BG-REIT fell 0.97% and the BG TotalReturn30 lost 1.44%.

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 2.08% to 63.94 points after a 1.96% drop on Thursday.

(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)