The Czech market yesterday bucked the downtrend on international markets, gaining 0.29% to hit a new all-time high. The leader was again CEZ, which jumped 2.61% due to heavy purchases by foreign investors to hit a fresh all-time high of CZK 590. CME and Zentiva were also nicely bid almost throughout the day, however banks declined on international selling, with KB losing 1.49% and Erste 0.08%. Tabak was volatile thanks to nervousness about its 1H05 numbers due today before the market opens, but it still closed up by +0.42%. Volumes jumped by half to the normal daily average of USD 100m. As expected, CNB kept the 2W unchanged at 1.75%.