BUX Index Fell This Week Amid Declining Turnover

The Budapest Stock Exchange's (BSE) share index, the BUX, closed Friday at 37,838.30 points, 819.11 points or 2.12% lower than the previous week, the state news agency MTI reported this Sunday morning along with a brief analysis.

Weekly turnover on the stock market was HUF 47.5 billion, down from HUF 47.9 billion the previous week, with the leading shares weakening, with the exception of stagnant Richter.

In a summary sent to MTI, Equilor Investment Plc. pointed out that the BUX index ended the week in the red, although there was a significant positive correction in Friday's trading.

Among the economic events of the week, the end of the domestic interest rate hike cycle was mentioned. The Monetary Council implemented a larger-than-expected tightening of 125 basis points at Tuesday's rate decision meeting, and the statement indicated that this marked the end of the rate hike cycle, with the base rate at 13%. Monetary tightening will continue in the coming period with a tightening of liquidity, according to the MNB.

The BUX index underperformed international markets on Monday, falling 0.33%. Among the leading shares, Mol was the big turnaround, as while the company was down more than 2% in the morning, it closed the day up 0.75%.

Tuesday saw a positive correction on the BSE during the day, but by the close most of the leading shares had weakened.

On Wednesday, the Budapest Stock Exchange declined amid unfavorable international sentiment, with the worsening energy crisis in the region adding to investor concerns about recession, with Richter leading the fall among blue chip stocks.

Investor sentiment remained negative on Thursday, with Western stock markets weakening and the Czech and Polish stock markets closing with much larger declines than the BSE.

Friday saw a strong bounce on the Hungarian stock market and a turnaround in investor sentiment in Europe.

For the week, Mol's share price fell by 0.17% on HUF 9.3 billion in turnover, ending Friday's trading at HUF 2,406.

OTP's share price fell by 5.04%, closing at HUF 7,908 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of HUF 24.57 billion.

Richter was unchanged this week, closing Friday at HUF 7,400, with a weekly turnover of more than HUF 11.7 billion.

Magyar Telekom's share price fell by 1.5% this week, closing at HUF 295.50 on Friday, with a weekly turnover of HUF 586.7 million.

The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 3,586.57 points, down 98.19 points or 2.66% on the previous week.