SOFIA (Bulgaria), September 26 (SeeNews) – Abundant cash on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange lifted its blue-chip index to a tenth consecutive record high on Wednesday, brokers said.
The SOFIX index of the 17 blue chips on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) rose 1.57% to 1,820.27 points, while the broad BG 40 index added 0.47% to 496.07 points.
“There is plenty of cash on the market (...) Optimism seems to be so strong that good news is overexposed and has a very big impact on share prices," Georgi Biserinski, an investment consultant with Slovenian-owned KD Securities brokerage in Sofia, told SeeNews.
He added that hefty gains in fuel and construction materials retailer Toplivo and several banks like Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) backed the rise of the indices.
Toplivo ended 8.5% higher at 33.9 levs in volume of some 15,900 shares, while CCB closed at 11 levs, up 6.8% with some 20,140 shares changing hands.
“Fears that Bulgarian banks may be affected by the global crisis in the sector have perished,” Biserinski said.
Recent uncertainty over the health of the U.S. subprime mortgage market triggered sell-offs on global markets and affected many banks holding securities linked to subprime mortgages.
"It is hard to predict but the market should consolidate at certain levels. However, it is unknown whether these levels would be up or down from the current ones," Biserinski said.
Stocks of car battery maker MonBat continued rising after the company on Monday raised its full-year net profit forecast to 16.7 million levs ($12 million/8.5 million euro) from a previously projected 15.5 million levs, Biserinski said.
MonBat shares closed 2.2% higher at 28.38 levs in volume of nearly 18,790 shares.
On Wednesday 100 shares rose, 49 fell and 17 remained unchanged .
BSE's BG TotalReturn30 (BG TR30) index, including companies with a free float of at least 10% having equal weights in the index, appreciated 2.21% to 1,146.32 points.
The BG-REIT index tracking the performance of real estate investment trusts traded on the stock exchange, gained 1.49% to 103.56 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, added 1.46% to 289.07 points.
BSE's total turnover rose to 27.8 million levs from 16.5 million levs on Wednesday.
(1 euro = 1.95583 Bulgarian levs)