BUX Index Fell on Falling Turnover This Week

The Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) share index fell on a downward trend this week, with the BUX closing at 45,007.80 points on Friday, 0.14% lower than a week earlier.

Weekly turnover on the stock market was HUF 29.3 billion, up from HUF 46.3 billion the previous week, with leading stocks performing mixed.

In its weekly summary sent to MTI, Equilor Investment Plc. highlighted among the week's events that the monetary conditions were unchanged at the National Bank Hungary 's (MNB) interest rate decision meeting on Tuesday. The statement said that the agreement on EU funds was a positive development, but the central bank sees the need to maintain tight monetary conditions on a permanent basis.

It was recalled that Richter had signed a binding letter of intent with Belgium's Mithra Pharmaceuticals to commercialize the hormone replacement product candidate Donesta. The MoU covers Europe, Russia, CIS, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand and the agreement will be finalized in the first quarter of next year.

Equilor added that Richter's US partner AbbVie announced on Friday that its Vraylar product had received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of major depression.

The summary also indicated that investment bank RBC Capital raised its 12-month target price on Richter from HUF 12,600 to HUF 13,300, with the recommendation remaining an overweight.

Among the leading stocks, Magyar Telekom and Mol rose this week, with the telecoms company's share price gaining 4.67% on turnover of HUF 624 million, the paper ended trading at HUF 347.5 on Friday.

Mol's share price rose by 0.92% this week, closing at HUF 2,640 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of HUF 4.01 billion.

Richter's share price fell by 0.73%, with a weekly turnover of HUF 9.95 billion, closing at HUF 8,800 on Friday.

OTP weakened by 0.87%, ending Friday's trading at HUF 10,300, with a weekly turnover of HUF 13.51 billion. The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 3,637.32 points, down 16.16 points or 0.44% on the previous week.