The management of BSE intends to starting announcing daily data on the participation of foreign investors in Bulgarian public companies. This is what Ivan Takev, director of the Trade Supervision and Market Information department of BSE told the media at the Journalists Club AAA yesterday. BSE is to inform Central Depository on the new initiative.

One of the reasons for the recent pressure on the local market is the massive selling on the part of foreign investors. “This is the first time BSE suffers as a consequence of the global crisis, which shows foreign participation in Bulgarian companies must have been quite significant.” BSE's executive director Bistra Ilkova said.

She quoted a recent BSE analysis, showing that the sales made by large banks, funds and investment intermediaries are almost equal to the amounts they purchased (the only exception being UniCredit Bulbank).

Bistra Ilkoiva also said that foreign interest in Bulgarian companies in 2006 had reached 42%. In September 2007 it was down to 24%, which period coincided with the peak of the local market. This figure may also drop further, as the new owners of BTC and EIBank have plans to delist the companies.