OTP Bank Rises to Highest in Week as European Stocks Rally

(Updates with closing prices in second paragraph.)

Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- OTP Bank Nyrt. rose to the highest level in a week as banks led a rally in European stock markets.

Hungary’s largest lender advanced 2.5 percent to 3,330 forint as of the 5 p.m. end of trade in Budapest, the highest on a closing basis since Sept. 21. That pared OTP’s quarterly slide to 44 percent. The benchmark BUX index, in which OTP has a 26 percent weighting, strengthened 1.2 percent.

European stocks rose as U.S. reports showed claims for unemployment benefits fell more than forecast last week and the economy grew faster than estimated in the second quarter. Banking shares gained as German lawmakers approved an expansion of the euro-area bailout fund.

--Editors: Linda Shen, Gavin Serkin

To contact the reporter on this story: Andras Gergely in Budapest at agergely@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net