Prague fell 3.18% on Thursday, as a major London market maker initiated a heavy sell-off in Komercni banka. The stock is among the most actively traded stocks of late, and lost 8.62% to close at CZK 750.30. The pressure came despite the unofficial naming yesterday of the five candidates for the state's 60% stake in the bank. We believe that some investors now expect a period with a very limited newsflow, and closed positions. The selloff yesterday was later joined by a number of retail brokers who, we believe, were forced to make stop-loss trades. Komercni yesterday touched an intra-day low of CZK 745.10, trading in a good volume of 261,400 shares. Most other stocks followed suit: Cesky Telecom lost 5.5% to CZK 447.20, and Ceska sporitelna lost 5.2% to CK 219.80. Only CEZ rose, adding 3.65% to CZK 87.2, as the current price level attracts more interest. Again, more than 1.5 mil. CEZ shares changed hands. Total market trading volume reached USD 16.9 mil. on Thursday.
(Milan Procházka)