The PX-50 index closed down 0.79% to 792.5 after the market priced in the Prime Minister's resignation from Saturday. Cesky Telecom fell almost 3% as its privatization might be delayed. Unipetrol caught the market by surprise by dropping 5.50% to CZK 71.20, with its fall following agencies' reports that the IOC is likely to exercise its call option for a 51% stake in Ceska rafinerska and thus may complicate the Unipetrol privatization. However, the news was denied in the evening by the Industry Ministry. Unipetrol is likely to recover yesterday's losses and will trade in the CZK 75-76 range. Zentiva debuted on the PSE yesterday with a volume approaching USD 6m; we saw substantial interest in the stock from a number of retail accounts; sellers were mostly from abroad locking in profits from the CZK 485 IPO last week. In days to come, we may witness a further weakness of the market, with Cesky Telecom being an obvious target for sellers on the back of the current political situation. On the other hand, Komercni banka may still post further gains ahead of the record date for the CZK 200 per share dividend. Volume in the SPAD systém reached EUR 29.7m.
Milan Prochazka