BUX on a roller-coaster on Friday
The Budapest Stock Exchange's main BUX index lost 1.50% on Friday, falling on announcements by rating agencies.
OTP Bank lost the most amongst bluechips, falling 3.58% to HUF 5,031 on turnover of HUF 18.4bn, or about 88% of the HUF 20.8bn session total. Oil and gas company MOL dipped 1.47% to HUF 19,500 on turnover of HUF 1.3bn. Magyar Telekom fell 1.48% to HUF 665 on turnover of HUF 470m, but drug maker Richter, the bourse's defensive share, climbed 0.43% to HUF 44,600 on turnover of HUF 371m. The bourse's mid-cap BUMIX index fell 1.18% to 2,006.34.
Second slip in the afternoon
After a shock in the morning caused by Moody’s review, Standard and Poor’s revision caused another shake-up of the market. With the S&P outlook for Hungary rated to negative from stable, the forint weakened from 285.50 past 287.00 to the euro. S&P made the decision because "key components of the government's plan to consolidate public finances could prove harmful to Hungary's medium-term growth prospects".
The forint traded at 222.31 to the dollar around 2:15pm on Friday, weakening from 220.50 before the S&P announcement.
First slip in the morning
The BUX index opened up 0.33% at 22,350.86 on Friday on the cue of Asian and US markets. OTP Bank rose 0.42% to HUF 5,240, oil and gas company MOL gained 0.48% to HUF 19,885, drug maker Richter advanced 0.20% to HUF 44,500 and Magyar Telekom opened up 0.30% at HUF 677.
Already in the first hour of trading, the index fell 0.32% to 22,206.15 after Moody's Investors Services said it placed Hungary's local and foreign currency government bond ratings on review for possible downgrade.
Richter was the only blue chip to retain its opening gains, trading up 0.43% at HUF 44,600. OTP fell 0.50% to HUF 5,192, MOL lost 0.56% to HUF 19,680, and Magyar Telekom dropped 0.74% to HUF 670.
The forint traded at 285.15 to the euro at around 10:15 am on Friday, weakening after the announcement. It went down sharply from 283.80 past 286.10 to the euro. The forint also weakened from about 220.50 to 222.20 to the dollar on news of the review, but recovered to around 220.80 shortly afterward. (BBJ, MTI)
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