Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were up by 0.2% for the week to close at 1,602.6. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 887.2m, 13.2% above its 12M weekly average of USD 783.5m.
CEZ was the most actively traded stock of the past week and it also suffered the biggest loss. The stock fell down by almost 4% as international investors were on the sell side after the announcement that some of CEZ's top management sold shares under the company's option plan and after the price of electricity in Germany moved down to an 8 month low.
The star of the past week was CME. CME was supported by the strong performance of its US traded shares, the performance of its Polish peers and upgrades by several analysts. Also, Komercni Banka and Telefonica O2 CR came in with a nice performance – each up about 3%. Telefonica O2 CR was helped by an S&P upgrade of its parent company Telefonica. Orco increased in-line with Polish developer GTC. Foreign selling of Philip Morris sent its price down by 3.6%. Erste Bank declined despite upgrades from a number of analysts and the positive comments concerning further growth in its mortgage and loan business. For this week, we are expecting the usual number of releases of macroeconomic data. At the end of the week (Friday, January 19), the second government formed will be asking Parliament for a vote of confidence.