The turnover raked in by the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BSE) in 2007 exceeded that of the other regional stock exchanges in Croatia, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia.

BSE generated 4.61 bln euros turnover in 2007, while the turnover of the stock exchange in Romania came to 4.05 bln euros, data of BSE's annual report for 2007 show.

It is only normal for BSE' turnover to exceed that of smaller stock exchanges in the region but it is slightly unusual to see the turnover of the local exchange exceed that of the Romanian capital market, which is considerably bigger.

Of course, there is a logical explanation for that fact. Large-scale packages in companies, such as the Bulgarian Telecommunications Company, DZI and Economic and Investment Bank, were transferred on BSE last year. If these transactions were not taken into consideration, BSE's we would have hardly witnessed similar results.

BSE's SOFIX blue-chip index hovered around the average mark in 2007 in terms of increase registered by the regional indexes in 2007. The SOFIX advanced by 44.2% in 2007, which is considerably lower, compared to the biggest increase of 109.1% registered by Macedonia's MBI-10 index.

The CROBEX index of Croatia's Zagreb Stock Exchange gained 63.2% last year. SOFIX's increase, however, was considerably higher in 2007, compared to the 22.05-percent gain registered by the BET index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

BSE once again occupies a place in the middle of the ranking in terms of market capitalization growth. The market capitalization of the local stock exchange rose by nearly 90% to 14.45 bln euros as at the end of 2007. The market capitalization of the stock exchanges in Macedonia and Croatia swelled by 119.1% and 118.7%, respectively.

The market capitalization of the Zagreb Stock Exchange is nearly 3.5 times bigger compared to BSE's, while that of the Bucharest Stock Exchange is 1.5 times bigger.

IndicatorBSEZagreb exchangeBucharest exchangeNumber of issues380359157Capitalization (in mln euros)14,44647,99523,997Capitalization growth+89.28%+118.67%+12.06%Share turnover in 2007 (in mln euros)4,6142,9434,049Main indexSOFIXCROBEXBETChange in main index for 2007+44.42%+63.23%+22.05%

IndicatorBelgrade exchangeSarajevo exchangeMacedonian exchangeNumber of issues1,710509113Capitalization (in mln euros)16,3427,9391,837Capitalization growth+95.92%+35.80%+119.11%Share turnover in 2007 (in mln euros)1,842653473Main indexBELEX15BIFXMBI-10Change in main index for 2007+38.39%+26.96%+109.07%

*Data by FEAS