The PX-50 index shed 2.25% of its value in closing at 421.2 points on Friday. The decline was led by Erste Bank, which lost 8.5% to CZK 1,756. The stock faced a sharp sell-off here on the back of a sector-wide and credit-rating downgrades across the European banking sector. Komercni banka was down only marginally though, by 0.8%, due to short covering by a couple of London accounts. Total volume reached USD 22 mil. Today we expect another weak opening in Europe, which will have negative implications for the Czech market as well.
Milan Prochazka