The Prague market rallied with little apparent reason upon opening on Wednesday, but in the end closed at 488.40 points (PX-50 index), down 1.47%. Komercni banka lost 3.76%, closing at CZK 949, a more realistic level after having shot up toward CZK 1,000 earlier in the week. Cesky Telecom had a roller coaster of a day, trading intraday between CZK 532-562.90, and losing 2.93% in the end. The worst seemed over for CEZ, as more than 1.7 mil. shares changed hands yesterday and the stock traded at an average price of CZK 100.40; however, out of the 1.7 mil. shares traded yesterday, only approximately 300,000 shares were traded in the SPAD system. This situation is similar with other stocks too, as local brokers’ activity seems to be driven by artificial volume making—cross-trades and buy/sell trades—rather than by real trading. Total traded volume Wednesday reached USD 25.2 mil.
(Milan Procházka)