Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were off by a slight 0.1% to close last week at 1,540.1. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 693.4m, 8.6% below its 12M weekly average of USD 758.3m.
CEZ was one of the star performers last week. It reached an all-time high supported by interest from international accounts. Erste Bank gained on the back of strong demand in Vienna. The star of the past week was Philip Morris, which added more than 3% after the Czech Parliament passed a milder excise tax hike than originally planned. At the other end of the spectrum, the worst performer of the week was Komercni banka. This was the result of reporting weak 3Q06 figures and a downgrade from some of the analysts covering the stock. Zentiva was sold off by both domestic and international investors. CME fell about 3.5% when its 3Q06 results came in below our expectations. For this shorter week, we are waiting for CEZ’s results, which should be announced on Wednesday, November 15. Also a fair amount of macro economic data will be published during the coming week's session. The Czech market will be closed on Friday, November 17, due to a public holiday.