The recent upward trend on the Prague Stock Exchange came to an end last week and Czech equities closed down 1.6% as measured by the headline PX-50 index, which closed Friday at 633.1 points. The blue-chip PX-D index was down 1.3% on the week, at 1,583.3 points.
Komercni banka (-5.2%), Philip Morris CR (-3.3%) and Cesky Telecom (-2.8%) were the hardest hit in the sell-off. Among other losing stocks, Unipetrol lost nearly 2% to CZK 63.5, and CEZ closed Friday 0.1% weaker. The major gainer of the week was Ceske radiokomunikace, which rose 5.2% to CZK 291.8 on Friday; investors now await a Czech Securities and Exchange Commission decision related to a share buyout offer made to minority shareholders by the company’s majority owner, Bivideon. Erste Bank gained 1.4% to CZK 2,912.
The overall traded volume on the PSE was USD 213.5 mil., 43% above the 12M weekly average of USD 148.9 mil.
As for this week, the Cabinet will meet to discuss the draft state budget for 2004 on Wednesday, and July retail sales data will be released on Tuesday.
Jitka Oppitzová