BUX up on Greece hopes
The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished up 1.42% at 21,775.40 Monday after falling 0.27% Friday. Over last week, it lost 1.87% after dropping 2.01% the previous week. It is up 30.91% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.
The Budapest parquet turned around on the single impact of resurging hopes for a last-minute, political-level deal in the a cash-for-reforms marathon of Greece and its international creditors.
However, trade was still for the brave as volumes sagged and the BUX underperformed euro zone peers just as it mostly outperformed them in the overall market setback last week. Analysts play down dangers of contagion in the CEE region from a possible "Grexit" just like benefits of an amicable outcome for Greece.
And parallel to last-ditch efforts on Greece, EU foreign ministers extended economic sanctions on Russia until January 31 on Monday, smashing recent hopes in Budapest that Hungary and some other EU countries could reach separate agreements with Russia to ease some of its countermeasures on a one-by-one basis. The possibility of an extension of counter sanctions pressured Richter.
In another development, expertsʼ scrutiny of official statistics showed on Monday that the government mandated Sunday closing of shops, in force since the middle of March, caused more than 2,000 job losses in retail and wholesale trade by the end of April despite longer hours on weekdays.
OTP rose 3.15% to HUF 5,477 on turnover of HUF 3.96 bln from a HUF 6.52 bln session total, about a third short of the daily average this year.
MOL won 1.09% to HUF 14,400 on turnover of HUF 1.14 bln.
Magyar Telekom recovered 0.75% to HUF 404 on turnover of HUF 245 mln.
Richter ended flat at HUF 4,260 on turnover of HUF 1.07 bln.
The bourseʼs mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.03% higher at 1,657.68.
Elsewhere in the region, WIG 20 in Warsaw was up 2.32%, while Pragueʼs PX rose 1.42%. Western Europeʼs major indices were all up ahead of their close Monday, FTSE100 in London 1.54%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 3.67%, and CAC40 in Paris 3.68%.
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