PRAGUE/BUDAPEST/WARSAW (dpa-AFX) – The stock exchanges in Eastern Europe closed with gains on Friday. The markets followed the friendly mood in Europe. The biggest improvement was in Warsaw.
The Polish Wig-20 (WIG 20) closed with a plus of 0.75 percent and 2306.05 points. The broader WIG rose by 0.78 percent to 77,111.85 points. With high sales, PKN ORLEN was sought after in Warsaw. The oil company’s shares rose 2.2 percent. Crude oil prices recovered somewhat from their recent decline on Friday.
There were moderate gains in Budapest. The Hungarian BUX index gained 0.42 percent to 58,669.83 points. The index was driven primarily by the shares of OTP (Orságos Takar És Ker BK ON) Bank, which gained 1.7 percent on high volume. OTP CEO Sandor Csanyi held out the prospect of possible further acquisitions in a media interview.
The Czech PX (PX Prague Stock Exchange Index) index ended the day with a slight increase of 0.02 percent and 1407.55 points. The PX heavyweights Erste Group (Erste Group Bank) were highly sought after and rose by 1.4 percent.
Things went up slightly in Moscow. The RTS index (RTS) remained at 1054.28 points at the close of trading with a small increase of 0.29 percent./mik/spa/APA/bek/jha/