Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were up by 4.7% for the week ending May 24th, to close at 1,767.1. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 1,105.0m, 21.5% above its 12M weekly average of USD 909.4m.
All stocks closed the week in positive territory. The Czech Parliament approved its proposed financial reforms. The biggest gainers were Komercni banka, (1 791 CZK, 1,30%) and (606 CZK, 0,10%) O2 CR. Komercni Banka got support from foreign buyers and strengthened by 6.6%. finished the week up by almost 6% and it was actively being bought by international investors as it is still trading with its dividend of CZK 50 per share. The ex-dividend date is September 6. increased by 5.9% and followed in-line with the good performance of its US traded shares. CEZ is continuing to be supported by its ongoing share-buy-back program and it added almost 5% for the week. (1 497 CZK, 1,56%) benefited from its inclusion in the most preferred stock list by (76 USD, 0,37%). Some analysts have also upgraded their recommendations of the bank's shares.
(1 682 CZK, 1,02%), (2 973 CZK, 1,33%), (740 CZK, 0,48%) and (9 800 CZK, 5,32%) report their quarterly results this week. According to our projections, the cigarette producer PMCR should announce 1H07 net consolidated profit after minorities of CZK 928m, while the market's consensus is looking for CZK 825m.
The board of the Czech National Bank meets on Thursday, August 30. We do not expect any changes to the main 3.0% benchmark rate.