Over-the-counter trade remained king on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange in Wednesday’s session, surpassing the volumes traded on the regulated market.

Total turnover, excluding block and other pre-arranged deals, added up to BGN 1.16 million.

OTC trade was dominated by energy-to-construction company Enemona and collective investment schemes of mutual fund Capman Capital.

The SOFIX index of the blue chips saw its sixth consecutive negative session, slipping 0.42% to 383.48 points. Most pressure came from financial and industrial group Eurohold Bulgaria, Corporate Commercial Bank (Corpbank) and industrial conglomerate Chimimport. Dnevnik 20 of the biggest and most liquid stocks shed a quarter of a percent, whereas BGTR30, in which companies with a free float of at least 10% have equal weight, and the broader BG40 made only minor losses.

On the regulated market, rose oil distillery Bulgarska Roza Sevtopolis topped by volume, but only to fall 0.34% to BGN 1.46 per share. Seven companies cleared the BGN 30,000 benchmark, with hotel operator Grand Hotel Varna outperforming all with an 8.33% rally that left its shares at BGN 8.25 apiece.

US markets tumbled by about 1.5%, mostly thanks to a worse-than-expected record 27% drop in housing sales in July, stoking talk of a double-dip recession and unleashing a massive wave of sell-offs.

“The effects of the stimulus measures are waning in the US and fears about the global economic recovery are increasing,” Tomomi Yamashita, a fund manager in Tokyo at Shinkin Asset Management Co, told Bloomberg yesterday.

EURO STOXX 50 of the eurozone blue chips dipped by 0.70% after Standard and Poor’s downgraded Ireland to AA- on concerns that banking sector support would widen he country’s deficit.