BUX Index Rose on Rising Turnover This Week

The stock index of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) rose this week, with the BUX 60 closing at 369.18 points on Friday, up 1,699.35 points or 2.90% from a week earlier, MTI reported Sunday morning, along with a brief analysis of the week.

Weekly turnover on the stock market was HUF 84.86 billion, up from HUF 36.65 billion the previous week, with the leading stocks, with the exception of Richter, gaining.

According to a weekly commentary by Equilor Investment Plc., a brutal rise has been seen in the domestic stock market in recent days, with the BUX index breaking through the 59,000 and then the 60,000 level, and is now approaching 61,000 points. In addition, the BUX closed Thursday at a new all-time high of 1,592.89 points, up 2.71% at 60,475.92 points.

It was pointed out that two major banks also raised their target price for OTP: JP Morgan from HUF 17,800 to HUF 20,100, with an unchanged overweight recommendation, while Goldman Sachs raised its target price from HUF 18,600 to HUF 20,700, with an unchanged buy recommendation.

Despite this, the OTP share price also fell on Friday due to the unfavorable international investor sentiment. Of the HUF 30.3 billion turnover on Friday, HUF 21.7 billion was related to bank paper. According to the analysis, the high turnover of OTP can be explained by the fact that it is the main Hungarian stock in the crosshairs of foreign investors.

It was recalled that on Thursday Moody's upgraded its outlook on Mol's debt rating. The rating agency affirmed its Baa3 debt rating, but upgraded the outlook from stable to positive, indicating the possibility of an upgrade at a later date.

Equilor also noted in its weekly summary that the Opus group posted an outperformance in the first three quarters of 2023, with a net profit of HUF 30.67 billion, more than double the same period a year earlier. Equilor's target price on Opus Global remains at HUF 423 per share with a hold recommendation.

Among the leading stocks, OTP's share price rose the most this week, by 5.41%, closing at HUF 15,580 on Friday, with weekly turnover of HUF 59.14 billion.

Magyar Telekom rose 4.55%. The share closed Friday at HUF 666 with a weekly turnover of HUF 1.92 billion.

Mol gained 2.39% this week, ending Friday's trading at HUF 2,832 with a weekly turnover of HUF 10.31 billion.

Richter was down 0.67%, with a weekly turnover of HUF 8.89 billion, closing Friday at HUF 8,870.

The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 5,197.24 points, up 18.12 points or 0.35% on the previous week.