Negative Past Week on PSE, SPAD Names Down While Activity Remains Low

Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were OFF by 6.3% for the week ending March 9th to close at 1,467.9. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 860.5m, 37.4% below its 12M weekly average of USD 1,250.5m.

All Czech Blue Chips declined during the past week. CME was the biggest loser of the past week erasing 19% of its market value. The main reason was its planned issue of convertible bonds. Unipetrol gave up about 10%, being sold by a number of international accounts. The most actively traded listing, CEZ, erased 6.6% of its value. We saw some analyst downgrades coming out on Erste Bank, which closed the week weaker by 5.5%. The second bank traded on the Prague exchange, Komercni Banka, also declined despite some buying support from domestic investors. Telefónica O2 CR lost only 1.5% and proved to be considered by investors as a defensive stock. The real estate developer ECM unexpectedly announced some of its 4Q07 results. Its EBIT numbers came-in much lower than was expected by the market. The full set of numbers, together with its NAV value, will be released on March 26.

At the beginning of this week (Monday, March 10), Zentiva reported its 4Q07 results. The net income reached CZK 349.7m, while market projected CZK 457m. This week there will also be a number of macroeconomic data announcements released.