Karoll topped the ranking of investment intermediaries in terms of most transactions on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in the second quarter of 2008. A total of 32,616 transactions have been sealed through the investment intermediary in the period April to May, while the turnover amounted to 73.52 mln leva. A total of 12.56 mln shares changed hands via Karoll in the second quarter of the year, data of the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) show.

BenchMark and Elana Trading rank second and third with 21,496 and 15,485 transactions, respectively. The turnover through BenchMark stood at 76.69 mln leva, while the value of the stocks that were traded via Elana came to 50.8 mln leva.

Ug Market and Capman round out the top five. Ug Market sealed a total of 12,386 transactions in the second quarter of 2008. A total of 5.24 million shares were transferred in the period, while the turnover totaled 12.27 mln leva.

Capman completed a total of 8,061 transactions in the second quarter of the year. A total of 5.94 mln shares to a total value of 61.47 mln leva changed hands over the three months.

Populiarna Kasa 95 occupied the number six spot with 7,762 deals, 5.05 mln leva turnover and 767,000 shares trading volume in the period.

See the table for more details on the Top 10 of the investment intermediaries in terms of number of deals in the period April 1 – June 30 and the changes over the last year:

Investment intermediaryNumber of deals Q2 2008Number of deals Q2 2007Change %Karoll326162700620,77BenchMark Finance214961372156,66Elana Trading 154851155933,96Ug Market12386800654,71Capman8061658922,34Populiarna Kasa 776271788,14Sofia International Securities6075456533,08First Financial Brokerage House5959468327,25Zagora Finacorp5167431519,75Deltastock4959409421,13

Source: FSC/Profit.bg

A total of 80 investment intermediaries and commercial banks offered investment intermediation services as at the end of June, FSC data show. A total of 196,532 deals in stocks were sealed in the second quarter of 2008. The turnover came to 1.4 bln leva, while the trading volume amounted to nearly 300,000 shares.

The number of transactions recorded in the corresponding period of 2007 stood at 165,308, while the turnover totaled 2.7 bln leva. The number of shares traded came to 401.5 mln leva.

The number of deals marked an 18.9-percent year on year increase in the second quarter of 2008. The turnover and the volume declined by 49% and 26%, respectively.