June 24 (SeeNews) - The share indices of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) ended in negative territory on Friday amid increased turnover, following the results of Brexit vote.
The preliminary results of Thursday's referendum in the United Kingdom on whether the country should remain the European Union show that some 52% of voters said "yes" to the country's departure from the bloc. The final results are yet to be released later on Friday.
Approached by SeeNews for comment, analysts said they expect negative sentiment to persist, until global markets settle down at least.
"Uncertainty is very high at the moment as an economic crisis of sorts is bound to take place. The Brexit will affect negatively the Bulgarian bourse, prompting sell-offs in small volumes which will set off serious volatility," Tsvetoslav Tsachev, head of research at Elana Trading brokerage, told SeeNews.
The blue-chip SOFIX index, which tracks the 15 most liquid shares on the Sofia bourse, fell by 1.13% to 456.37 points after closing 0.17% higher on Thursday.
The broader BGBX40, which tracks the 40 most traded shares, decreased by 1.50% to 89.4 points after growing by 0.14% in the previous trading session.
Turnover on the Bulgarian regulated market rose to 1.3 million levs ($623,400/562,300 euro), from 1.1 million levs on Thursday.
Holding Varna [BUL:5V2] was the only SOFIX gainer, adding 0.62% to a close of 24.500 levs as 7,036 shares changed hands.
Industrial group Chimimport [BUL:6C4] led the blue chip decliners, falling 3.68% to 1.333 levs. It also was the most traded blue chip company on Friday, as 33,290 shares changed hands at an average price of 1.330 levs.
The BG-REIT index, which tracks the performance of the real estate investment trusts, lost 0.62% to 100.03 points after decreasing by 0.04% in the previous session.
The BG TotalReturn30 index, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, fell by 1.10% to 377.29 points. A day earlier it closed 0.86% higher.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)