PSE down for the past week, Unipetrol the only star

Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were down by 2.1% in the past week and closed at 1,533.1. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 774.2m, 38.2% below its 12M weekly average of USD 1,252.9m.

The most active name in the past week, CEZ, closed weekly session almost flat despite higher dividend proposal than the market expected. Erste Bank (1 004 CZK, -1,67%) declined by 4.1% due to global negative sentiment and followed Vienna trading. Komercni banka also lost and finished down by 2.2%. Some international sellers on Telefonica (495 CZK, -0,12%) O2 CR pushed the price down by 2%. Real estate developer Orco (1 333 CZK, -3,13%) Property Group was the biggest laggard during past week. Negative mood which still prevailed on the sector and stop-loss orders shot Orco down by more than 6%. The only stock finishing up in the past week, Unipetrol (268 CZK, -0,78%), gained strong 5.2%.

Cigarette producer Philip Morris (7 020 CZK, -0,40%) CR will be traded with dividend rights for the last day on Wednesday, 16 April. As PMCR usually pays out 100% of its unconsolidated profit, we expect dividend of CZK 883 which implies dividend yield of more than 12% - the highest percentage among the Czech Blue Chips. We also expect annual general meeting of the insurance company VIG (1 197 CZK, -0,42%) this week.