Sofia stocks lose ground as turnover falls further

Total turnover on the main market of the Sofia bourse slumped to 1.3 million levs ($721,364/664,680 euro) on Tuesday from 4.04 million levs on Monday and 28.7 million levs on Friday.

The blue-chip SOFIX slipped 0.21% to 783.41 points, reflecting losses in hydraulic equipment manufacturer M+S Hydraulic [BUL:MSH], the biggest blue-chip decliner. M+S Hydraulic [BUL:MSH] sank 4.55% to 10.5 levs in a turnover of 1,187 shares.

Poultry producer Gradus [BUL:GR6] was the biggest loser among the components of the BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse. Gradus tumbled to 1.45 levs, down 14.71%, in a volume of 1,000 shares.

BGBX40 went down 0.30% to 161.83 points, after edging up 0.06% a day earlier.

The losses in M+S Hydraulic and Gradus weighed on the BGTR30, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight. The BGTR30 ended 0.72% lower, at 805.15 points, making it the worst performing index on Tuesday.

The BGREIT, which tracks seven real estate investment trusts, dropped 0.14% to 190.99 points, as losses in Bulgarian Real Estate Fund REIT [BUL:BREF] could not offset gains in Advance Terrafund REIT [BUL:6A6]. Bulgarian Real Estate Fund fell 0.77% to 2.58 levs, while Advance Terrafund picked 0.30% to 3.34 levs.

Bucking the trend, BEAMX, which tracks the ten most highly capitalised growth companies, ended the session 3.41% higher at 100.37 points.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)