A Positive Week in Prague with Record Levels

Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were up by 2.6% for the week to close at 1,660.9. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 686.1m, 10.9% below its 12M weekly average of USD 770.2m.
The PX Index, Erste Bank and CME reached all hit record highs last week. Erste Bank was supported by various analyst upgrades and it outperformed the rest of the banking sector. Orco gained the most -- almost 5% -- due to its NAV announcement, which came in better than the market had expected. CEZ, Telefónica O2 CR and CME also each added more than 4%. Telefónica O2 CR closed up on being upgraded by several analysts and this was despite the poor performance of its regional peers. Zentiva finished slightly in the red, having been influenced by the weak performance of the Hungarian pharmas, which were hit by Russia making some changes in its drug subsidy program. It looks at though some accounts switched their focus into Zentiva. The biggest laggard for the past week was Philip Morris, which lost 3.7%.

For this coming week, we don't expect to see any major corporate catalysts for the market. There will be an announcement on the status (balance) of the budget by the Ministry of Finance on Thursday, February 1st.