BUX loses 0.9% on report of government use of MNB fx reserves

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s blue-chip BUX index closed Tuesday trade down 0.88% to 16,989.98, sustaining a counter-trend decline as an Internet media report, which officials from the National Economy Ministry subsequently denied, that the government is planning to use foreign-currency reserves from the National Bank of Hungary (MNB) to spur economic growth weighed on sentiment at the Budapest bourse.

The BUX lost 149.99 points on a composite exchange turnover of HUF 12.41bn, fluctuating in a 2.95% range between an intra-session high of 17,217.17 shortly after the BSE’s 9:00 a.m. opening bell and an intra-session low of 16,709.92 shortly after noon.

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

Oil and gas company MOL lost 2.88% to HUF 17,195 on a turnover of HUF 3.47bn;

Magyar Telekom declined 2.30% to HUF 509 on a turnover of HUF 1.36bn;

Drug company Richter gained 1.75% to HUF 34,950 on a turnover of HUF 1.11bn;

OTP Bank advanced 0.59% to HUF 3,259 on an exchange-high turnover of HUF 6.28bn.

The BSE Big Four generated 98.5% of the exchange’s composite Tuesday turnover.