BUX falls while European peers gain

The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished down 1.79% at 20,952.53 Tuesday after shedding 0.52 points (a minus 0.00%) Monday. It is up 25.96% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.

The Budapest bourse lagged regional and euro zone peers that welcomed data on soaring German exports and upwardly corrected Q2 GDP figures in the area.

The BUX was weighed down by drugmaker Richter on renewed profit taking, and oil company MOL, after it had "significantly reduced" the geological potential of the Akri-Bijeel Block, a license it operates in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and said it would minimize investments there. It added that write-downs of previous investments at the block were expected to come in Q3 2015.

Erste Bank said in a note on Tuesday the Akri-Bijeel write-off would affect MOLʼs third quarter results to the tune of a one-off negative impact of between HUF 500 and 1,000 per share.

Other drags included resurfacing deflation fears on falling energy prices while, dimming hopes for consumer demand to pick up, core inflation remained fairly stable, and fresh data on steeply slowing annual industrial production growth in July complete with a monthly fall, all suggesting the economy could be slowing more than expected.

A survey showed business confidence fell in the SME sector.

Hungary gets half the amount it requested in emergency relief from the EU to help cope with a wave of Middle Eastern refugees, according to reports on Tuesday. Taken together with Mondayʼs data on budget deficit surpassing the annual target by the end of August mainly on delayed or suspended EU funding, and Tuesdayʼs data on falling international reserves, probably on early repayment of some forex debt of the state and conversion of forex household debts into forint, this new development added to anxiety concerning Hungaryʼs standing in the EU and, as a result, the countryʼs financial stability.

Meanwhile, remarks made by the head of Hungaryʼs Banking Association at a meeting at the week-end, who said that banks continued to sustain losses due to government policies, and wrangling between lenders and the government was going on unabated instead of a hoped-for compromise, also reverberated in the marketplace.

OTP lost 0.94% to HUF 5,399 on turnover of HUF 1.57 bln from a HUF 7.83 bln session total, 15% short of the daily average this year. MOL dove 2.74% to HUF 13,335 on turnover of HUF 4.93 bln. Magyar Telekom dropped 0.51% to HUF 391 on turnover of HUF 36 mln. Richter plunged 2.84% to HUF 4,110 on turnover of HUF 1.22 bln. The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.33% lower at 1,621.45.

Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was up 0.16%, while Pragueʼs PX rose 0.91%.

Western Europeʼs major indices were all up ahead of their close on Tuesday, FTSE100 in London 1.20%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 1.71%, and CAC40 in Paris 1.18%.