Negative Sentiment Prevailed on the PSE Last Week

Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were off by 4.5% for the week, to close at 1,771.4. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 1,316.1m, 54.2% above its 12M weekly average of USD 853.5m. There was a negative mode that hit all of the CE3 markets. None of the listings traded on SPAD managed to finish in positive territory. The best performance was seen in CEZ. The stock was supported by domestic demand and managed to limit its decline to “only” 1.8%. Zentiva fell the most. After its profit warning announced at the end of the week, the drug maker erased about 16% of its value. Real estate developers, Orco and ECM, decreased in-line with the overall negative sentiment towards the sector. Orco was also under selling pressure in Paris. CME followed its US traded line and fell by 6.4%. Telefonica O2 CR also moved down, despite its 2Q07 results, which came in above expectations. Its net profit reached CZK 2.6bn, in comparison with consensus estimates of CZK 2.44bn. As expected, the Board of the Czech National Bank raised interest rates by 25bps last week. The primary two-week repo rate is now 3.0%.

Erste Bank reports its 2Q07 figures on Tuesday (July 31). We expect the bank to come in with a net profit of EUR 269.2m, which would be below the consensus estimate of EUR 277m. CME will announce its 2Q07 results on Thursday (August 2). Our projections for net profit are USD 21.5m. Komercni banka also reports this week. On Friday (August 3), Komercni should announce a net profit of CZK 2.5bn, according to our estimates.