BUDAPEST: The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished down 0.90% at 22,374.16 Wednesday after rising 0.45% Tuesday. It is up 34.51% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year.
The Budapest bourse followed European peers down the slope while global investors wonder if a combination of worse-than-expected US company results, falling energy and metal prices on questionable Chinese demand, the strong dollar and the looming US base rate hike presages another slowing of global growth.
The summer holiday season limited volumes and on-going local worries added to the spleen in Budapest.Official figures showed general government deficit in Hungary jumped by nearly 60% to HUF 813.7 bln in the first half compared to a year ago, partly because the EU suspended or interrupted payments in several operative programmes, pending investigations into suspected market-bending. These payments fell HUF 156 bln, or almost 30%, from a year ago, while the government continued to pre-finance projects.
