Bulgaria's financial regulator gave its approval on October 13 for the listing of two corporate bond issues of about eight million euro for secondary trading on the stock exchange.

The first debt issue that would be listed on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia (BSE) is a five-million-euro three-year floating-rate bond that was privately placed by drug maker Sopharma in June, the Financial Supervision Commission said. The issue, including 5 000 bonds of a par value of 1000 euro each, has a coupon equal to the six-month EURIBOR plus 300 basis points.

The other bond cleared for secondary trading was issued by Bulgarian-registered AutoBohemia, which leases Czech Skoda cars. The firm issued in July a six million leva (about three million euro) five-year fixed-rate bond. The issue includes 6000 bonds with a par value of 1000 leva each.

Meanwhile, the trading week on the BSE started on Monday (October 17) with tobacco holding Bulgartabac crashing by 5.19 per cent and pushing the blue-chip SOFIX and the BG-40 indicator of the most-traded stocks downhill. The shocking increase of excise duties on cigarettes in 2006 is expected to seriously damage the market for Bulgartabac's products.

SOFIX lost 1.27 per cent to reach 855.25 points, while the BG-40 saw a decrease of 0.9 per cent to 137.18 points.

Holding companies registered minimal drops, with Favorit and Sinergon holdings going up by 1.82 per cent and 1.23 per cent, while about 5500 Favorit and 5000 Sinergon shares changed hands.

Fuel retailer Petrol appreciated by 2.1 per cent, while the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company was on its way to fall below the 10.50 barrier, after marking another dip of 1.12 per cent to 10.56 leva.

SOFIX registered no single increase in the week between October 10 and 14, very similar to what happened with the BG-40 indicator, which rose only on Friday.

The news around the Internet and telecom service provider Bitex that it would invest in the real estate business pushed up its price to 1.30 leva a share on Friday, making it the winner for the week.

Tobacco companies were the losers of the week - Plovdiv BT and Sluntse Stara Zagora BT (both members of Bulgartabac Holding) cheapened by one third of their price after news of their possible close downs next year in case of shrinking cigarette sales.