BUDAPEST: The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished down 0.32% at 21,964.72 Wednesday after rising 0.89% Tuesday. It is up 32.05% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.
Investors digested the latest figures on consumer prices shooting up more than expected last month in Hungary after an eight-month spell of deflation, while the minutes of the end-May meeting of the Monetary Council of the National Bank of Hungary (MNB), published on Wednesday, showed policymakers were still expecting disinflationary pressure. And the long-awaited return of inflation came amid slowing consumer demand.
The prospect of negative real interest rates, a decision of the MNB last week to replace the two-week deposit with the three-month deposit as its main policy instrument from September — a measure with the probable effect of shepherding more of banksʼ funds into short-term government paper — and another decision on Wednesday of the MNB to require lenders to back at least 15% of their net mortgage loans with long-term liabilities from October next year — a measure that will syphon off about HUF 279 bln from the market — also did not augur well for investments and may dent recently upbeat economic growth expectations, analysts said.
OTP corrected up 0.39% to HUF 5,420 on turnover of HUF 3.59 bln from a HUF 7.66 bln session total, three-quarters of the daily average this year. MOL fell 1.16% to HUF 14,440 on turnover of HUF 1.50 bln.
