March 21 (SeeNews) - The four main indices of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) finished on a high note on Tuesday, with the benchmark SOFIX index recovering to over 600 points on advances in Eurohold Bulgaria [BUL:EUBG] and First Investment Bank [BUL:FIB], bourse data showed.
SOFIX added 1.18% to 602.69 points, a day after dropping below the indicative 600-point threshold.
Eurohold, which registered the highest number of trades, or 42, jumped 7.69% to 1.40 levs as 58,110 shares changed hands. Eurohold's stock value is still below the level prior to Friday's announcement that the Romanian financial regulator decided to revoke its subsidiary Euroins Romania's operating licence and file for bankruptcy proceedings at the unit. Eurohold said earlier this week that it is prepared to seek in court overall damages of over 500 million euro ($538.85 million) if the regulator's decision is not revoked.
The blue-chip index's improved performance was also the result of a 4.81% rise in lender Fibank to 2.18 levs as well as a 2.82% increase in poultry producer Gradus to 1.46 levs with 10,000 shares traded. On Monday, the updated composition of the Bulgarian stock indices took effect, with Gradus joining the SOFIX index along with new constituents Bulgarian Stock Exchange [BUL:BSE], Monbat [BUL:MONB] and Sopharma Trading [BUL:SFT].
Sopharma [BUL:SFA], on the other hand, was the only SOFIX loser, dropping 2.88% to 5.05 levs.
The gains in Eurohold and Fibank, coupled with a 3.70% jump in M+S Hydraulic [BUL:MSH] to 9.80 levs, also supported the BGBX40 index, which tracks the 40 most traded shares on the Sofia bourse, and the BGTR30, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight.
The BGBX40 added 0.75% to 139.32 points, while the BGTR30 rose by 0.69% to 721.93 points.
The most modest gainer on the day was the BGREIT index, which tracks seven real estate investment trusts. The BGREIT inched up 0.06% to 187.38 points, propped up by a 0.30% increase in Advance TerraFund [BUL:ATER] to 3.29 levs.
Total turnover on the main market of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange slid to 806,809 levs ($444,572/412,515 euro) on Tuesday from 1.8 million levs on Monday.
The most liquid stock was Concord Fund-7 Southeast Europe [BUL:CCR7], which made up for a turnover of 231,012 levs. The stock closed flat at 13.80 levs with 16,740 shares bought and sold.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)
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