BUX Index Fell This Week on Falling Turnover

The Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) share index fell on a downward trend this week, with the BUX closing at 45,626.92 points on Friday, 380.19 points, 0.83% lower than a week earlier, MTI reported along with a brief analysis of the week’s trading.

The weekly turnover of the stock market was HUF 35.72 billion, up from HUF 43.91 billion the previous week, with leading stocks performing mixed.

In its weekly summary sent to MTI, Equilor Investment Plc. highlighted the two company news of the week, the Richter licensing agreement and the Mol's quick report.

On Wednesday, Richter entered into a licensing agreement with Belgian biotech Mithra Pharmaceuticals for the commercialization of its estetrol-based hormone replacement product candidate Donesta for the treatment of menopausal symptoms. The geographical scope of the agreement covers Europe, CIS member states, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand.

Mol reported fourth quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in line with expectations on Friday. Fuel price controls and special taxes reduced annual earnings by USD 1.6 billion and turned the company's last quarterly operations into a loss of USD 106 million.

On a yearly basis, the company's adjusted EBITDA exceeded management's revised November earnings target of USD 4.1-4.4 billion by USD 4.7 billion, with equal contributions from the exploration and production (upstream) and processing and trading (downstream) divisions.

Among the leading stocks this week, OTP weakened 1.31%, closing at HUF 10,965 on Friday, with weekly turnover exceeding HUF 20.74 billion.

The price of Mol fell by 1.72%, closing Friday at HUF 2,748, with a weekly turnover of HUF 6.07 billion.

For the week, Richter gained 0.69% to finish the week at HUF 7,995, with a turnover of HUF 7.81 billion.

Magyar Telekom's share price fell by 1.23% this week, closing at HUF 361.5 on the last day of the week, with a weekly turnover of HUF 531 million.

The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 3,656.17 points, up 26.96 points, or 0.74%, on the previous week.