„The good company reports for the fourth quarter of 2008 will not be of critical importance to the trade on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) today. The sell-offs will most likely resume today and SOFIX may drop to a new low," Dimitar Georgiev, broker at Elana Trading, told Profit.bg.

The 3-percent drop of U.S. Indexes yesterday may spark moderate sell-offs by speculative short-term investors, while the buyers will lower their bids.

„The sell-offs by foreign investors, which have been driving the prices in the recent months, will also weigh on the indexes, according to Dimitar Georgiev.

„The market sentiment has almost never been so negative. But when many blue chips are traded at a market capitalization close to their profit for 2008 and 2007 and several times lower than the initial costs to start a business, there are grounds for optimism in the midterm, the broker added.

It is too early and even naive for speculations about the market forming a long-term bottom, but history shows that historical levels were formed in times of extreme negativism.

BSE's major indexes started yesterday's session on positive territory but the optimism from the beginning of the day fizzled out towards its end.

The SOFIX blue-chip index slipped by 0.12%, to 291.35 points, while the broader BG40 shed 0.65%, to 94.06 points

BGREIT was the only gainer yesterday advancing by 0.44%, to 43.30 points. BGTR30 skidded 1.76% lower, to 211.75 points.

BSE's overall turnover came to 6.89 mln leva. A total of 80 issues were traded on the day with 26 of the companies posting stock price gains.