BUX loses 6.19% on global recession concerns, forex-mortgage proposal

The Budapest Stock Exchange's blue-chip BUX index closed Friday trade down 6.19% to 17,041.97 on fears of global recession and worries regarding a Fidesz-KDNP proposal to permit Hungarians with foreign-currency-denominated mortgages to pay off their debt in a single installment at a fixed exchange rate, leaving banks to cover the full cost of the transaction.

The BUX lost 1,123 points, recording its lowest closing mark since July 29, 2009 on a heavy composite exchange turnover of HUF 32.96 billion. The BUX fluctuated in an exceptionally broad, 8.1% range between an intra-session high of 18,119.78 shortly after morning bell and an intra-session low of 16,644.17 at 3:30 p.m. For the week, the BUX lost 1,191.06 points, or 6.53%.

BSE blue-chips stood as follows at Friday's closing bell: OTP Bank lost 10.70% to HUF 3,740 on an enormous, exchange-high turnover of HUF 24.64 billion, or 74.8% of the BSE's total Friday trade; oil and gas company MOL declined 6.64% to HUF 15,400 on a turnover of HUF 6.32 billion; Magyar Telekom lost 3.17% to HUF 489 on a turnover of HUF 938 million; drug company Richter declined 2.40% to HUF 34,150 on a turnover of HUF 587 million. For the week, MOL lost 9.94%, OTP lost 6.52%, Magyar Telekom lost 4.86% and Richter lost 3.88%.

The BSE Big Four generated 98.6% of the exchange's composite Friday turnover.