(Vienna) The Vienna Stock Exchange today announces the launch of new country index, the Bulgarian Traded Index (BTX), which it will be calculating and distributing.

The BTX is a capitalization-weighted price index and consists of seven of the most actively traded and highly capitalized shares on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in Sofia: Chimimport AD, CB First Investment Bank AD, Eurohold Bulgaria AD, Industrial Holding Bulgaria PLC, CB Corporate Commercial Bank AD, Monbat AD and Kaolin AD.

The Vienna Stock Exchange calculates and distributes the BTX in real time in Bulgarian leva, EUR and USD. The BTX is a tradable index and can be used as an underlying for standardized derivatives such as futures and options, and for structured products.

The starting value was defined at 1,000 index points on 3 January 2005. The calculation parameters are reviewed on a quarterly basis, and the composition of the index is reviewed and adjusted, as necessary, every half-year.

The BTX is the 33rd index to join the growing family of indices of the Vienna Stock Exchange; 22 of the indices track national, regional and sector trends in Central and Southeast Europe. The regional exchanges directly profit from the joint index projects with the Vienna Stock Exchange because of the boost in trading volumes.

For example, for this reason, between 2006 to 2007 more than EUR 250m was invested in companies listed on the Romanian Stock Exchange (BVB) as a direct result of the index cooperation between the Vienna Stock Exchange and the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).