January 2 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian Stock Exchange indices ended lower in this year's first trading session, as lender Central Cooperative Bank (CCB) [BUL:4CF] suffered a 4.26% plunge.
CCB shares ended at 1.35 levs on Wednesday - their lowest close since November 2016.
The lender's shares have been under pressure since November 2018, when the European Central Bank said it will undertake a comprehensive assessment of six banks in Bulgaria, including CCB, as part of the process of establishing close cooperation on supervision with the country's central bank.
The other major blue-chip decliner on Wednesday was CCB's majority owner - diversified group Chimimport [BUL:6C4], which lost 3.26% to an end price of 1.93 levs.
The benchmark SOFIX index, which tracks the 15 most liquid and capitalised stocks on the exchange, dropped 1.40% to 586.12 points - its lowest close since November last year.
CCB was also the biggest decliner among members of the BGTR30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight. The BGTR30 closed 0.71% lower at 492.61 points.
The BGBX40, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse, ended 1.04% lower at 114.70 points, as Zarneni Hrani Bulgaria [BUL:T43] outpaced CCB's share price decline, losing 6.25% to 0.24 levs.
The BGREIT, which ended 2018 at an all-time high of 121.07 points, closed the trading session unchanged. The BGREIT tracks real estate investment trusts listed both on the regulated market and BaSE Alternative Market of the Sofia bourse.
The first trading session of the year showed a shy turnover of 169,000 levs ($98,000/86,000 euro) as investors remained in a holiday lul.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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