BUX falls in global rout
The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished down 1.69% at 23,595.10 Thursday, after rising 0.58% Wednesday to a new more than four-and-a-half-year high. It is down 1.36% from year-end. It finished the past year 43.81% higher, after losing 10.40% in 2014.
The Budapest parquet, too, went down in a global maelstrom stirred by fears for growth, especially in emerging economies amid possible further US rate hikes and decade-low commodity prices. The latter reflect a marked slowdown in China, highlighted on Thursday by an extra-large official devaluation of the yuan that raised the spectre of a currency war, and the second early closure of Chinese stock markets this week after over-the-limit plunges.
In domestic news, fresh official figures on slowing calendar-adjusted annual retail trade growth in November, falling further from last yearʼs average, and figures on a similar slowdown in the euro zone, the main export market for Hungary, added to investorsʼ reluctance.
In rarely high volumes, typical at times of flight only, the dayʼs loser was OTP Bank, in line with trends for bank stocks in Western markets.
OTP lost 3.09% to HUF 5,775 on turnover of HUF 8.83 bln from a preliminary HUF 14.77 bln session total, about a two-thirds above last yearʼs daily average.
MOL dove 2.10% to HUF 13,980 on turnover of HUF 2.44 bln.
Magyar Telekom dumped 0.98% to HUF 405 on turnover of HUF 3.14m.
Richter retreated 0.09% to HUF 5,565 on turnover of HUF 3.06 bln.
The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 1.25% lower at 1,625.92.
Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was down 2.38%, while Pragueʼs PX slid 2.14%.
Western Europeʼs major indices were all down ahead of their close on Thursday, FTSE100 in London 2.13%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 2.22%, and CAC40 in Paris 1.74%.
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