BUX Index Rose on Rising Turnover This Week

The stock index of the Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) rose on rising turnover, closing at 47,869.61 points on Friday, up 296.26 points or 0.62% from a week earlier, MTI reported Sunday morning along with a brief analysis of the week’s trading.

Weekly turnover on the stock market was HUF 69.1 billion, up from HUF 37.3 billion the previous week, with leading shares performing mixed.

In its weekly summary sent to MTI, Equilor Investment pointed out that the decree amending the extra-profit tax for next year has been published, which contains a number of new features. If banks increase their holdings of domestic government bonds between January and November next year, the amount of tax payable may be reduced by 10% of the increase in holdings, up to a maximum of 50% of the tax payable.

The special tax rate on pharmaceuticals for Richter will be reduced by 50%, while the special tax rate for pharmaceuticals on sales of subsidized products will rise from 28% to 40% for products with a production price of more than HUF 10,000.

The telecom surcharge on Magyar Telekom and the extra profit tax on petroleum products for Mol will remain unchanged in 2024. On the positive side for Mol, the rate of the mining tax will be halved. Overall, the changes are positive for OTP, Richter and Mol, with no change for Magyar Telekom, the analysis said.

Equilor also pointed out that the Polish Santander Biuro Maklerskie raised its 12-month target price on OTP Bank from HUF 11,300 to HUF 11,800, with their recommendation remaining neutral. HSBC cut their target price for Mol from HUF 4,000 to HUF 3,700, with an unchanged buy recommendation.

Magyar Telekom has lowered its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) expectations for next year, with the company's management expecting only "moderate growth" in EBITDA instead of the previous "dynamic growth" due to the impact of the telecoms surcharge, Equilor wrote.

For the week, Richter gained 3.87%, closing at HUF 8,725 on Friday, with weekly turnover exceeding HUF 28.3 billion.

The share price of Mol rose 1.4% this week. It closed Friday at HUF 2,906 with a weekly turnover of HUF 15 billion.

OTP's share price fell by 1.48%, with a weekly turnover of HUF 23.4 billion, and closed Friday at HUF 10,970.

Magyar Telekom weakened by 1.2% this week, closing at HUF 413 on Friday, with weekly turnover exceeding HUF 1.4 billion.

The BUMIX index of small and medium-sized shares closed the week at 3301.42 points, down 54.28 points or 1.62% on the previous week.