BUX rises 1.6% on sharp gains by OTP

The Budapest Stock Exchange’s BUX index closed Thursday trade up 1.62% to 17,030.52 as an advance of nearly 4.5% from heavyweight issuer OTP Bank lifted the blue-chip index to its third substantial gain of the week.

The BUX rose 271 points on a composite exchange turnover of HUF 12.99bn, fluctuating in a 2.06% range between an intra-session low of 16,765.83 shortly after morning bell and an intra-session high of 17,111.08 at 4:45 p.m. The BUX gained 400 and 560 points on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, before losing 309 points on Wednesday.

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

OTP Bank gained 4.35% to HUF 3,287 on an exchange-high turnover of HUF 10.19bn, or 78.44% of the BSE’s Thursday trade;

Drug company Richter advanced 1.00% to HUF 35,510 on a turnover of HUF 559m;

Oil and gas company MOL advanced 0.71% to HUF 17,025 on a turnover of HUF 1.44bn;

Magyar Telekom finished unchanged at HUF 516 on a turnover of HUF 647m.

The BSE Big Four generated 98.8% of the exchange’s composite Thursday turnover.