BUX Index Fell on Falling Turnover This Week

The stock index of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) fell this week, closing at 55,504.98 points on Friday, 2.47% lower than a week earlier, MTI reported Sunday morning, along with a brief analysis of the week’s trading.

The weekly turnover of the stock market was HUF 52.9 billion, down from HUF 64.8 billion the previous week, with the leading stocks, with the exception of Magyar Telekom, weakening this week.

Equilor Investment Plc. said in a weekly summary sent to MTI that the BUX index started a negative correction in mid-week, catalyzed mainly by the fall of Richter, but later OTP also started down, and then fell below the HUF 14,200 support level in Friday trading.

Among the companies that released a flash report this week, 4iG's net sales more than doubled to HUF 151 billion in the second quarter, largely thanks to the Vodafone acquisition, turning a base period loss of HUF 3.6 billion into a profit of HUF 9 billion.

Management is working on a new strategy to strengthen collaboration across the group, while focusing on optimizing existing telecoms infrastructure, they said.

CIG Pannónia's results were also highlighted in the commentary. The company posted a profit of HUF 1.385 billion adjusted for one-off TAO and extra profit tax, up from a loss of HUF 352 million last year, and premium income increased by 43% in the first half of the year.

It was reported that the BUX index was revised on Friday. The Budapest Stock Exchange carried out the reweighting based on the closing data of the day, with the new weights taking effect on September 25.

At Tuesday's interest rate decision meeting, the MNB cut the effective interest rate by 100 basis points to 14%, and at the post-meeting press conference, Vice President Barnabás Virág indicated that the central bank will switch to "data-driven mode" from September.

At the September meeting, the base rate is expected to converge to the overnight deposit rate at 13%, after which the monetary policy toolkit will be simplified. The central bank expects Hungary to end the year with the highest real interest rate in the region. The forint also reacted with strength to the central bank governor's statement that there will be no automatic 100 basis point rate cuts from September.

Magyar Telekom's share price gained 2.3% this week, closing at HUF 463 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of HUF 802.4 million.

Mol weakened by 3.1%, closing at HUF 2,662 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of almost HUF 5.8 billion.

OTP was down 2.3% for the week, closing at HUF 13,970 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of HUF 27.4 billion.

Richter's share price fell 2.2% to close at HUF 8,965 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of more than HUF 9.8 billion.

The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 4,591.21 points, down 177.36 points or 3.72% on the previous week.