BUX gains 0.75% on strong US housing data

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s blue-chip BUX index closed Tuesday trade up 0.75% to 17,650.43 as the release of data showing that housing starts jumped 9.3% mo/mo in November in the United States, the highest level since April 2010, boosted the outlook for the global economy.

The BUX gained 131.36 points on a composite exchange turnover of HUF 12.37bn, fluctuating in a 2.47% range between an intra-session low of 17,350.43 shortly after 9:30 a.m. and an intra-session high of 17,778.92 at just after 4:00 p.m.

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

OTP Bank gained 3.40% to HUF 3,436 on an exchange-high turnover of HUF 8.77bn;

Drug company Richter advanced 1.40% to HUF 35,790 on a turnover of HUF 645m;

Oil and gas company MOL lost 1.26% to HUF 18,020 on a turnover of HUF 2.29bn, falling as an official denial of a Sunday report in the British newspaper The Independent claiming that Exxon Mobile was interested in buying MOL partner Gulf Keystone for around GBP 7bn (EUR 8.33bn)weighed on the company’s share value;

Magyar Telekom declined 0.39% to HUF 513 on a turnover of HUF 259m.

The BSE Big Four generated 96.7% of the exchange’s composite Tuesday turnover.