BUX rises on Greece, China
The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished up 1.72% at 21,734.72 Thursday after falling 0.16% Wednesday. It is up 30.66% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.
Still in low volumes, the Budapest parquet followed Western markets up as signs of readiness of the Eurogroup to assess the sustainability of Greeceʼs debt, a 6% rebound in Chinese shares, the latest Fedʼs minutes suggesting some more rate hike leniency, a partly better than expected start to the US reporting season, and smooth trading on the NYSE after Wednesdayʼs three-hour glitch increased investorsʼ confidence.
An around 30% meltdown of Chinese shares in the last two weeks that raised fears of a global financial turmoil dwarfing any fallout from Greece, was stemmed, and global markets calmed, on Thursday when the Chinese regulator banned large stakeholders from selling for six months. An unprecedented limitation of free trade though, the measure could do more harm than good in the long run as foreign funds might shun the market, but it could also shepherd them to other emerging markets, benefiting BUX among others with some loose change, traders say.
Other positives of the day were fresh data on Hungaryʼs foreign trade balance expanding in May after a fall in April, and signs that the Ministry of National Economy was near winning a battle to make changes in the management of the National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) in the wake of last yearʼs US ban of entry for top officials of NAV on suspicion of corruption.
Expectations are strong that Moodyʼs Investors Service could raise Hungaryʼs junk credit ratingʼs outlook to positive, from stable, on Friday.
MOL turned into the red only in last minute trades.
OTP soared 3.96% to HUF 5,590 on turnover of HUF 3.26 bln from a HUF 5.71 bln session total, less than two-thirds of the daily average this year.
MOL lost 0.35% to HUF 14,350 on turnover of HUF 1.02 bln.
Magyar Telekom dropped 1.01% to HUF 392 on turnover of HUF 325m.
Richter advanced 2.35% to HUF 4,175 on turnover of HUF 1.00 bln.
The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.86% higher at 1,657.52.
Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was up 0.38%, while Pragueʼs PX gained 1.49%.
Western Europeʼs major indices were all up ahead of their close on Thursday, FTSE100 in London 1.54%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 2.57%, and CAC40 in Paris 2.87%.
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