BUX back on track upwards

The Budapest bourse rose for a seventh day in eight days after a lull on Tuesday.

Encouraging regional news supported the main index as the appointment of new political leaderships in Poland and Romania helped calm nerves in the region after uncertainty over policies in the past weeks.

Strong, pro-market political appointments in Poland and Romania are very positive news, Raiffeisen said in a note on Wednesday.

BUX only pared gains as did European peers after a speech by ECB President Mario Draghi in London Wednesday afternoon which disappointed as he did not discuss monetary policy. Expectations for further ECB easing in December remained intact regardless.

On the domestic turf, a government decision published in the official gazette in Wednesday showed the government was accelerating the uptake of EU funds already this year. Values of tenders opened this year add up to HUF 1,400 bln, and tenders yet to be opened by the end of the year promise another HUF 1,600 bln, with the total exhausting almost 40% of all EU-funds available in the current seven-year period which started last year.

Oil company MOL said on Wednesday it had signed an agreement with Eni International to acquire Eni Slovenia. The deal includes all Eniʼs retail and wholesale business in Slovenia, raising the number of MOLʼs petrol stations to 57 from 40 in Slovenia. MOL has announced the purchase of some 450 petrol stations, among them Eniʼs network, in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia in the past 18 months. After rising, its share fell slightly only in last minutes trades.

OTP Bank was up in a continuing rebound since the government sold its 5% stake in it at the end of October at a deeply discounted price. Huge oversubscription, unfulfilled in the auction sale, supports the share ever since, analysts say.

Magyar Telekom flexed some muscles after newspaper reports that the government could introduce a low-cost basic internet service, but at the same time reduce the VAT rate on internet service to 18% and put free wifi in all settlements.

Meanwhile, analysts expect 2.5% economic growth in Hungary from the third quarter, after 3.5% in the first. quarter and 2.7% in the second quarter. A first official estimate is due on Friday.

OTP won 1.45% to HUF 5,749 on turnover of HUF 4.69 bln from a preliminary HUF 9.77 bln session total, nearly a tenth above the daily average this year.

MOL shed 0.04% to HUF 13,370 on turnover of HUF 1.30 bln.

Magyar Telekom garnered 0.51% to HUF 391 on turnover of HUF 174 mln.

Richter ended flat at HUF 5,000 on turnover of HUF 3.56 bln.

The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.17% lower at 1,607.50.

Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was up 0.44%, while Pragueʼs PX dipped 0.43%.

Western Europeʼs major indices were all up ahead of their close on Wednesday, FTSE100 in London 0.18%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 0.62%, and CAC40 in Paris 0.84%.