Hours after Bulgaria's stock exchange started to sell shares Thursday morning, they traded between a low of BGN 2.16 and a high of BGN 4.27.

"We will continue to follow the plan, which we have drawn up to turn Bulgaria's Stock Exchange into a regional leader," Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said at the launch of the trade.

In his words that would expand the capital market in Sofia and attract companies from the whole region to list their shares.

Asked when the government will proceed with its plans to list state-owned companies in a bid to enliven the local stock exchange and boost revenues, Minister Djankov replied:

"When the trees spring into bloom."

Bulgaria's only stock exchange became a public company in the middle of December after the Financial Supervision Commission approved its prospectus and the bourse was listed on its own platform. The capital of the bourse is a total of BGN 6 582 860 at BGN 1 apiece.

Bulgaria's Finance Ministry raised at the beginning of October its share to 50% plus one share from 44% in the country's stock exchange. The government bought 715,000 shares at BN 1 apiece as it prepared to sell its majority to an industry investor and offer the rest to the public.

The shareholders said the move aims to ease the future privatisation of the exchange and the search for a strategic investor.

Since 2008, the stock exchange has traded on the Deutsche Boerse's Xetra platform under a contract that expires in 2012. Bulgaria has discussed ways to sell its bourse stake over the past decade with Sweden's OMX AG and exchanges in Austria, Greece and Poland to boost interest in local stocks and make trading more transparent.

Representatives of the Finance Ministry and the Stock Exchange have commented that the move will give the ministry the opportunity to seek a strategic investor, make the Exchange transparent, increase interest towards the capital market and reinstate the trust in the latter.

Meanwhile Victor Papazov, founder, former CEO and chairman of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange has harshly criticized the decision, saying the Bulgarian government is threatening the country's economic future by effectively nationalizing its stock exchange at a knock-down price.