New economy is at the gates of the Czech economy: Internet sales jumped five-fold, but they are still paltry at CZK 100 mil. So, the old economy reigns: the Ministry of Industry and Trade (our favorite one) wants to keep an uranium mine open for two more years. It's product is more expensive than uranium at the world market, but the CEZ has to buy it, so why not dig a bit longer?
The koruna again shed a few hallers of its last week's massive gain and dipped to 34.90 CZK/EUR. It did weaken vis-a-vis the dollar as well to 41.70 CZK/USD.
Bond trading was much quieter on Tuesday than on previous days. The prices started bit higher than on Monday but dropped quickly after some minor sales. However, with lower IRS some clients showed some interest after many days of waiting and few purchases have pushed prices up again to Monday closing levels, after some yields became significantly higher than IRS. However it is still a question if we have already reached the bottom or not. The market lacks any impulse in these days, so trading is likely to be quieter until next Friday, when government bond auction will be held.
Current benchmark prices: MoF 6.75/05 99.00-30 (+15 bps), MoF 6.30/07 94.20-50 (unchanged), MoF 6.40/10 92.20-50 (unchanged).
(Ondrej Schneider and Dalimil Vyskovsky)