The Budapest Stock Exchange’s blue-chip BUX index closed Tuesday trade up 3.13pc to 23,936.99.
The BUX gained 726.80 points to its highest close since February 14, 2008 on a heavy composite exchange turnover of HUF 46.52bn (EUR 176.21m), as the 16 eurozone countries pledged on Tuesday to if necessary provide financially strapped Greece with loans, thus providing blue-chip indices at bourses throughout Europe with a lift. The BUX fluctuated in a 3.29pc range between an intra-session low of 23,174.54 just after morning bell and an intra-session high at the index’s closing mark of 23,936.99.
The mid-cap BUMIX index also gained on Tuesday, advancing 20.36 points, or 0.98pc, to 2,089.58.
BSE blue-chips stood as follows at Tuesday’s closing bell:
OTP Bank gained 5.53pc to its highest close since September 22, 2008 at HUF 6,700on an immense, exchange-high turnover of HUF 36.74bn;
Magyar Telekom advanced 3.45pc to HUF 750 on a turnover of HUF 2.46bn;
Oil and natural gas company MOL gained 2.72pc to its highest close since July 31, 2008 at HUF 20,390 on a turnover of HUF 4.73bn;
Drug company Richter advanced 0.68pc to HUF 42,690 on a turnover of HUF 1.64bn.
The BSE Big Four generated 97.96pc of the exchange’s composite Tuesday turnover.
Tamas Szatmari of Raiffeisen Bank commented that the BUX outperformed its global blue-chip peers on Tuesday, noting that Hungary’s April national elections have apparently not undermined the optimism of investors with regard to BSE shares. Mr Szatmari added that Standard and Poor’s confirmation of Greece’s ratings boosted the outlook at European bourses on Tuesday.
Szabolcs Vaszko of Erste characterized the optimism that currently prevails on global stock markets as groundless. Mr Vaszko predicted that the value of shares traded at stock exchanges in Europe would continue to rise as long as the outlook remains positive on Wall Street.
Other major central and eastern European blue-chip stock indices also closed higher on Tuesday, with Prague’s PX-50 gaining 1.28pc to 1,201.90 and Warsaw’s WIG-20 advancing 2.20pc to 2,445.34.