BUX hovers around breakeven, closes down
The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished down 0.27% at 21,470.94 Friday after falling 0.88% Thursday. It is up 29.08% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.
The Budapest parquet hovered around breakeven throughout the day to close with a cautious fall for the fifth time in six days while persistent concerns over Greeceʼs debt crisis kept a lid on the progress of the regionʼs stock markets.
Blue chips in Budapest mostly corrected up in early bargain hunting then down in quick profit taking, to finish the week also down. The BUX ended its third consecutive week down.
The market was subdued also on fresh data that showed annual net wages growth slowed in April in Hungary, and annual net real wages growth decelerated for the fourth month in a row as deflation disappeared. Inflation came back with a bang in May.
Primary employment growth without fostered workers slowed for the second month both in the national economy as a whole and in the private sector in particular.
This came on top of recent data on deceleration in retail trade, industry and construction, and new car registrations, while other resources of growth also start to show signs of fatigue, including a fall in the trade surplus, net direct investments turning outbound, and EU transfers narrowing.
On Friday, investors were reminded of the governmentʼs nationalizing zeal, when the central bank approved the takeover of Budapest Bank by a state-run investment vehicle, Corvinus, from General Electric Capital.
Meanwhile, a new row with the EU and Serbia over Hungaryʼs plan to fence off part of its southern border to stem a flow of asylum seekers also simmered on.
OTP ended flat at HUF 5,310 on turnover of HUF 3.60 bln from a HUF 7.77 bln session total, about a quarter short of the daily average this year.
MOL dropped 1.11% to HUF 14,245 on turnover of HUF 1.46 bln.
Magyar Telekom lost 0.25% to HUF 401 on turnover of HUF 267 mln.
Richter advanced 0.24% to HUF 4,260 on turnover of HUF 2.28 bln.
The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.03% higher at 1,657.15.
Over the week, the BUX was down 1.87% after falling 2.01% the previous week.
OTP dipped 2.39% after recovering 1.02% last week.
MOL dropped 1.93% after easing 2.91% the previous week.
Magyar Telekom was off 2.91% after losing 3.50% last week.
Richter got rid of 2.11% after plunging 4.35% over the previous week.
The BUMIX rose 4.77% after sliding 1.63% over last week.
Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was down 1.33%, while Pragueʼs PX rose 0.84%.
Western Europeʼs major indices were mixed ahead of their close Friday, with FTSE100 in London up 0.27%, DAX30 in Frankfurt down 0.25%, and CAC40 in Paris up 0.55%.
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