Hungarian forint hits year highs, BUX up sharply

The forint soared to its year highpoint of 250.5 against the euro at one point during Thursday's trading, despite the European Central Bank's decision to raise its eurozone key lending rate by 25 basis points. At the end of the session the exchange rate was 251.9. "There was subdued interest on the market," said ING analyst Miklós Kolba.

The forint's rate may be pushed lower if investors close positions ahead of the upcoming national holiday for fear of potential rioting. There was strong demand for the one-year discount treasury bills at Thursday's auction.

The government debt management agency ÁKK received Ft 246.77 billion worth of bids against Ft 30 billion offered. The average yield was 8% compared to 8.2% at the previous auction one week before.

On the equity market, the Budapest Stock Exchange gained 500 points, or 2.2% to end trading at 23,020, the maximum daily level. OTP and MOL both climbed over 2%.

The above story is just one of more than two dozen published today by Hungary Around the Clock, the most comprehensive source of daily English-language news about Hungary. For a free trial of HATC, click here. Hungarian news sources include Népszabadság; Magyar Hírlap; Világgazdaság; Napi Gazdaság; Magyar Nemzet; Népszava; Kossuth Rádió news and Hungarian television's nightly news broadcast.

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