BUX advances 0.9% to close above 19,000-point plateau for first time since August

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s BUX index finished Monday trade up 0.89% to 19,018.87 as OTP Bank’s gain of nearly 3.5% lifted the BSE blue-chip index above the 19,000-point closing plateau for the first time since August 8, 2011.

The BUX advanced 168.25 points on a composite exchange turnover of HUF 19.11bn, fluctuating in a 1.63% range between an intra-session low of 18,722.55 shortly after the BSE’s 9:00 a.m. opening bell and an intra-session high of 19,027.80 at about 4:50 p.m.

BSE blue-chips stood as follows at Monday’s closing bell:

OTP Bank gained 3.35% to HUF 3,944 on an exchange-high turnover of HUF 15.57bn, or 81.5% of the BSE’s total Monday trade;

Oil and gas company MOL advanced 0.26% to HUF 19,250 on a turnover of HUF 2.46bn;

Magyar Telekom finished unchanged at HUF 555 on a light turnover of HUF 696m;

Drug company Richter lost 0.81% to HUF 36,700 on a light turnover of HUF 134m.

The BSE Big Four generated 98.7% of the exchange’s composite Monday turnover.