BUX Index Fell on Rising Turnover This Week

The stock index of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE), the BUX, closed the week 5.35% lower at 40,771.24 points, down by 2,306.45 points compared to the previous Friday, MTI reported this Sunday morning along with a brief analysis.

Total turnover on the stock market rose from HUF 47.274 billion to HUF 61.245, even though the BSE had a day off on the March 15 national holiday, so there were only four trading days in the week. The leading shares weakened.

The BUX started the week with a significant drop of almost 3% on the back of the US bank panic. Investors were trying to get rid of stocks they considered riskier, an analyst at Equilor Investment told MTI.

The stock index rose slightly on Tuesday, but fell sharply again in the second half of the week as investor sentiment turned negative, he added.

OTP in particular weakened due to the difficulties in the international banking market, Mol shares were not helped by the uncertainty surrounding dividend payments. On the last trading day of the week, tensions eased and although the BUX fell slightly again, trading on the BSE was calm, with the effects of the banking panic less pronounced domestically.

Elsewhere in the world, however, stock market sentiment remained mixed, with Western stock indices ending the week lower, despite the fact that many analysts also believe that the difficulties in the banking markets do not indicate a systemic problem. For the time being, the problems of the failing financial institutions appear to have been caused by specific factors, and the Fed, in its role as the US central bank, has dealt with the situation quickly and decisively.

Magyar Telekom was the least weakened of the leading stocks. It closed Friday at HUF 385, down 1.79% or HUF seven on the week, with turnover of nearly HUF 836 million.

Richter closed the week at HUF 7,300, down 2.6%, HUF 195, with a total turnover of HUF 9.136 billion.

Mol ended the week at HUF 2,418, down 5.69%, HUF 146, with a weekly turnover of over HUF 9.886 billion.

OTP shares weakened by 7.41% to HUF 9,490 after a fall of HUF 760, with a total turnover of almost HUF 40 billion.

The BUMIX index of small and medium shares closed at 3,446.04 points on Friday, down 3.28% week-on-week to 116.92 points.