Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 22, 1990 TAG: 9006220085
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY LENGTH: Medium
Officials hope the fledgling Budapest trading floor will boost market-oriented economic reforms and become the stock exchange center for all of Eastern Europe.
On its first day, the exchange reported 58.1 million forints, more than $900,000, worth of trading in the 41 listed companies.
Prime Minister Jozsef Antall, in a telegram from West Germany where he is on an official visit, said the Budapest Stock Exchange was "an important institution of a market economy."
President Bush sent a letter of congratulations and a special English-language edition of Toezsde Kurir (Stock Market Courier) that was launched earlier this year was on sale to mark the opening.
A stock exchange first opened in Hungary in 1864 but was closed in 1948 when Communists came to power after World War II.
"Until the '80s it was heresy to even suggest anything of the sort," said Hungary's interim president, Arpad Goencz, alluding to Communists' description of a stock market as the ultimate symbol of capitalism.
Even before democratic change swept Eastern Europe last year, Hungary tended toward reform.
The Communist authorities set up a market for state-guaranteed bonds in 1983 and an embryonic stock market was created two years ago. That gave Hungarian financial experts training officials hope will make Budapest the best candidate as a center for a Eastern European exchange.
In March, a key government act on the stock exchange and securities took effect, giving the market a legal framework.
by CNB