BUX rises for a sixth day, but slows
The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished up 0.40% at 22,029.00 Monday after rising 1.53% Friday. It is up 32.43% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year. Over the last week it surged 5.52% after easing 0.18% in the previous week.
The Budapest bourse plodded ahead in a day free from market moving news either at home or abroad, while Western markets ground the a screeching halt after a six-day rally, in waiting for more clues on the intentions of the US Fed, and at the threshold of the third quarter results season projected to be mixed at best.
A belated return of the Frankfurt bourse to the black before close also supported the BUX.
On the home turf, analysts said a speech on Monday of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán at a Budapest conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) might have contributed to mixed feelings. In the next five years the government would support the development of infocommunications with HUF 130 bln at 8,000 companies, he said, but added that "overseas companies which profit from our digital economy should also contribute to growth in this sector." In the government past practice, such arguments used to be the basis to levy special taxes on banks, retail chains, energy and pharma firms, analysts recall.
Wariness of foreign capital towards Hungary was illustrated on Monday by an analysis of global real estate company JLL, showing that new international real estate investment reached EUR 570m in Hungary in the first nine months of this year, an eight-year record, however, with this amount, Hungary came in only fourth in the CEE region after the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.
Fitch Ratings on Monday has affirmed the long-term issuer default rating (IDR) of OTP Bankʼs Russian subsidiary at "BB" with a stable outlook, and the viability rating (VR) at "b plus".
OTP won 0.88% to HUF 5,750 on turnover of HUF 2.76 bln from a preliminary HUF 5.21 bln session total, only more than half the daily average this year.
MOL eked out 0.04% to HUF 13,345 on turnover of HUF 729m.
Magyar Telekom gained 0.50% to HUF 399 on turnover of HUF 80m.
Richter advanced 0.20% to HUF 4,580 on turnover of HUF 584m.
The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.02% lower at 1,612.99.
Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was down 0.74%, while Pragueʼs PX garnered 0.82%.
Western Europeʼs major indices were mixed ahead of their close on Monday, with FTSE100 in London down 0.83%, DAX30 in Frankfurt up 0.22%, and CAC40 in Paris down 0.31%.
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