The equity market yesterday

Prague closed almost unchanged on Tuesday, as the market awaited the FOMC decision. Komercni banka again accounted for almost 38.5% of the total market volume as the Czech Cabinet announced it had decided to issue up to CZK 20 bil. in state guarantees for the bank. The stock peaked intraday at CZK 920, but selling orders soon sapped the stock's strength; the stock lost 2.34% on the day, closing at CZK 888.50. CEZ found two strong bidders who pushed the stock up by 3.84% late in the afternoon, lifting CEZ above CZK 100 level again—CEZ closed at CZK 102.15 with more than 1.7 million shares changing hands. For today, we expect investors to start taking profits on recent gains, and the FOMC decision is not likely to help the market either. Total trading volume reached USD 19.9 mil. on Tuesday.

(Milan Procházka)