BUDAPEST: The Budapest Stock Exchangeʼs main BUX index finished up 0.05% at 22,742.94 Friday, after falling 0.52% Thursday. It is up 36.73% from year-end, after losing 10.40% last year. With euro zone markets already picking up sharply, the Budapest parquet only pared losses in the afternoon and reached a meagre gain in close.
Market sentiment is still volatile after earlier, improving, euro area inflation and bank lending data caused some panic that the ECB might cut short its QE, despite the bankʼs affirmation to the contrary. First-rated European sovereign yields shot up, pulling Hungarians also up, but money from bond sales did not find its way into shares as the development suggested rising financing costs.
