BUX falls more than 3% after Moody’s downgrade; OTP biggest loser

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s main BUX index dropped 3.06% to 16,454.24 on Friday, after Moody’s cut Hungary’s sovereign rating under "investment grade" late Thursday.

OTP Bank was the biggest loser among the blue chips, falling 6.08% to HUF 2,860 on turnover of HUF 15.5bn or a little more than three-fourths of the HUF 20.3bn session total.

Oil and gas company MOL lost 2.48% to HUF 17,700 on turnover of HUF 3.3bn.

Magyar Telekom dropped 3.23% to HUF 479 on turnover of HUF 756m.

Drugmaker Richter, the bourse’s defensive blue chip, ended the session flat at HUF 34,500 on turnover of HUF 375m.

The bourse’s mid-cap BUMIX index declined 2.30% to 1,325.35.

Elsewhere in the region, Warsaw’s WIG 20 edged up 0.09% but the Prague PX slipped 1.10%.

Western Europe’s biggest indices were all higher late Friday. London’s FTSE 100 was up 1.05%, Frankfurt’s DAX climbed 1.25% and the CAC 40 in Paris advanced 1.49%.

The BUX lost 3.38% on the week as OTP Bank dropped 5.61%, MOL fell 1.69%, Magyar Telekom declined 4.20% and Richter dipped 2.42%. Turnover for the week was HUF 67.1bn, under the HUF 82.7bn in the previous week.