BUX rise hardly slows
The Budapest Stock Exchange's main BUX index finished up 0.78% at 17,585.79 Wednesday, after rising 0.80% Tuesday. It is down 5.27% from the end of last year, after it rose 2.15% in 2013.
OTP rose on hopes it will come out ahead of the pack while the sector grapples with the impact of debtors relief legislation and as a consolidation of the banking scene looms as a result.
MOL profited from an interview of its CFO with CNBC in which he said falling oil prices created not just problems but also opportunities for the company, and welcomed US mediation in the dispute with the Croatian government over MOL's Croatian subsidiary, INA.
Richter also raked up further gains while traders say it continues buying its own shares.
Even a slowdown, than fall, in Western markets could not brake much the Budapest parquet, although local worries are still felt.
The Hungarian government's retail-sector measures will hit the country's economic growth, Raiffeisen Bank said in a note Wednesday. While a pickup in household consumption is forecast in 2015, the measures could prove counterproductive, and "it wouldn't be a surprise if the unemployment rate rose slightly and if household consumption boosted GDP at a lower rate than expected," Raiffeisen said.
Large retail chains saw their food supervisory fee multiplied to tens of billion forints in next year's tax law adopted by parliament Tuesday. Other measures on the drawing board include prohibiting retailers with sales over HUF 50 bln annually from selling fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) if they fail to generate a profit for two consecutive years, banishing supermarkets and discount stores from world heritage locations, and a ban on large stores opening on Sundays.
Austrian supermarket operator Spar, the fourth largest retail chain in Hungary, has already said it would postpone a significant part of the investments it planned in Hungary in the next few years. Despite making losses the company paid HUF 26 bln in various taxes last year. Their plans to make a profit soon could be affected by the changes in legislation, the company said Tuesday. Spar employs more than 13,000, making it the fifth employer nationwide.
OTP won 0.37% to HUF 4,025 on turnover of HUF 1.09 bln from a HUF 4.36 bln session total, slightly more than half the daily average this year.
MOL rose 0.89% to HUF 12,410 on turnover of HUF 1.21 bln.
Magyar Telekom added 1.17% to HUF 347 on turnover of HUF 92 mln.
Richter advanced 1.08% to HUF 3,740 on turnover of HUF 1.61 bln.
The bourse's mid-cap BUMIX went out 0.84% higher at 1,466.80
Elsewhere in the region, Warsaw's WIG20 was down 0.65%, while Prague's PX increased 0.85%. Western Europe's major indices were all down ahead of their close Wednesday, FTSE-100 in London 0.36%, DAX30 in Frankfurt 0.01%, and CAC40 in Paris 0.07%.
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