Hungary’s stock market ranked among the global top performers in 2025, with the BUX index rising 40% over the year, while the BUMIX, tracking small and midcaps, gained 44%, financial website Portfolio.hu wrote after a joint press conference by Hungarian National Bank (MNB) governor Mihaly Varga and Budapest Stock Exchange (BSE) CEO Tibor Toth on January 12. 

The solid performance of the Budapest bourse reflects the underlying strength of the Hungarian economy, Varga claimed, and highlighted the need to boost the share of retail financing in the capital market, which remains low not just in an EU comparison but also compared to CEE peers.

Hungarian households hold nearly HUF24 trillion (€62bn) in financial savings, roughly equal to the combined market value of BSE-listed companies. Despite a threefold increase in the proportion of household wealth invested in equities over the past decade, only 3% of total savings is currently invested in the stock market, he added.

Varga also touched on monetary issues during the press briefing, saying that price stability and inflation reduction remain the central bank’s top priorities. Inflation fell below 4% by the end of 2025, and there is a good chance of reaching the 3% target in early 2026. He also noted the stabilisation of the forint and the strengthened liquidity and capital position of the Hungarian banking system.

Toth said the BUX gained 38% in 2023 and 30% in 2024, bringing the average gain over the last three years to 36% in forint terms, compared to the 13% average of the S&P over a five-year horizon.

Last year’s rally was boosted by OTP shares, which surged more than 60% and is now trading at an all-time high, while among mid-caps, 4iG, which aspires to be the fifth blue chip, besides OTP, Richter, MTelekom and MOL, shares jumped more than 4.5-fold.

Major transactions included MBH's share issue, the largest retail share subscription in 25 years. He also highlighted the first euro-denominated share issue by Shopper Park Plus, which owns and operates shopping malls in the CEE region. The company raised €100mn in November to acquire eight retail parks in Poland.

Annual trading turnover exceeded HUF4.45 trillion (€11.5bn) and the average daily turnover reached HUF18bn, up 50% on the previous year.

Toth underlined that the growth reflects company performance rather than market revaluation and noted that current valuations on the BSE still contain a significant discount compared with Western European and US markets. He also stressed the need to increase the proportion of household savings invested in equities to converge with Western levels.