Weaker telecommunication stocks led the Czech equity market down last week. In a week in which most Czech blue chips reported their 2002 earnings, the PX-50 index lost 2.3% of its value, closing Friday at 472.5 points, and the PX------D index lost 2.6%. Cesky Telecom and Ceske radiokomunikace finished at CZK 269 and CZK 191, down 8.6% and 4.3%, respectively (both reported worse-than-expected results). Despite satisfactory full-year 2002 results from Komercni banka, its stock lost 3% on the week and closed Friday at CZK 2,106. Although KB was the most traded stock last week (its volume of USD 34.4 mil. accounted for 37% of the total PSE volume of USD 91.5 mil.), the stock’s volume was down 35% compared with the week previous. Volume in Cesky Telecom, on the other hand, rose by 53% to USD 30.2 mil. CEZ, the only stock to strengthen last week, rose by 2.5% and finished the week at CZK 93. Both Philip Morris CR and Erste Bank finished the week unchanged at CZK 11,008 and CZK 1,977. As little news is expected on the Czech market this week, we expect trading in Prague to be influenced by developments on the major exchanges.
Jan Hajek