Serbian Shares Close Higher in Larger Turnover

“The blue-chip index rose for a second consecutive session but it doesn’t mean the trend has changed. It has just reached some bottom, under which probably these shares cannot trade,” a local broker told SeeNews.

The blue-chip BELEX15 index added 1.52% to 556.17 points on Thursday after rising 0.23% a day earlier, when it broke a chain of eleven consecutive sessions of losses. The index has lost some 76% since the beginning of the year due to increased risk aversion among investors fuelled by the global financial crisis.

The composite BELEXline index advanced 0.30% to 1,214.90 points, rebounding from this year's lowest mark, recorded on Wednesday. The joint SRX index of the bourses in Belgrade and Vienna rose 0.34% to 257.73.

Total BELEX turnover rose to some 194 million dinars ($2.8 million/2.2 million euro) from 111 million dinars on Wednesday.

Agriculture firm Bezdan Poljuprivredno Preduzece dropped 9.50% to 200 dinars in the day's highest turnover of 37.3 million dinars.

“Probably some funds closed their positions in Bezdan,” the broker said.

Blue chip AIK Banka gained 1.28% to 1,976 dinars in 35 million dinars of turnover, the second highest for the day.

(1 euro = 89.4832 dinars)