BUX Index Rose in Falling Turnover This Week

The Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) stock index rose in declining turnover this week, closing at 43,662.95 points on Friday, 194.67 points, 0.45% higher than a week ago, the state news agency MTI reported – along the usual weekly analysis – on Sunday morning.

The weekly turnover on the stock market was HUF 43.869 billion, compared to HUF 48.564 billion the previous week, with leading stocks performing mixed.

In its summary sent to MTI, Equilor Investment Plc. pointed out that the second quarterly flash reports of OTP and Magyar Telekom were published this week, thus completing the series of current flash reports of the Hungarian blue-chip market.

Magyar Telekom published its second quarter better than expected results after the market closed on Tuesday. The company's revenue rose by 10.9% on an annual basis to HUF 184.2 billion in the quarter, analysts had expected a 7% increase. The revenue growth was helped by an expanding subscriber base and strong demand for mobile data revenues. On Wednesday, Magyar Telekom's share price rose by 2.5% to HUF 322 on turnover of HUF 128.2 million, following the report.

OTP reported on Thursday, with the banking group's net interest income and adjusted after-tax profit both up by about a quarter on an annual basis. Accounting profit also turned positive despite the extra profit tax and rising risk costs. At market close on Thursday, OTP's share price rose 1.60% to HUF 9,520.

The share price was also positively impacted by HSBC raising its 12-month target price for OTP shares to HUF 18,000 from HUF 17,715, maintaining its buy recommendation on the stock.

In the first half of the week, there was considerable concern over the news that oil supplies on the Friendship oil pipeline had been halted. Then, on Wednesday morning, Mol reassured the markets that the financial problem had been resolved and that oil deliveries would resume. As a result, Mol's share price fell sharply on Tuesday, by 4.16% to HUF 2,814, before correcting the fall on Wednesday, gaining 4.76% to HUF 2,948.

OTP was the strongest performer this week, up 4.79% on a turnover of HUF 33.765 billion, ending Friday at HUF 9358. The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 3,808.63 points, up 7.52 points, or 0.20%, on the previous week.