Czech equities, as measured by the PX Index, were up 3.8% for the week to close at 1,674.7. The overall volume of trading on the PSE reached USD 1,125.1m, 38.6% above its 12M weekly average of USD 812.0m.
The best performance of the last week was shown by Zentiva, with the stock adding a strong 12.1% after reporting its 4Q06 results and its announced acquisition of a Turkish generic drug producer. Zentiva was upgraded by several analysts, including Patria/KBC, and reached its all-time high. Komercni banka also significantly strengthened by 8.4% last week, supported by international investors. Orco closed 4%stronger as both domestic and foreign accounts were buying, despite the company issuing bonds worth EUR 175m. Erste Bank benefited from an analyst upgrade. CEZ became the most traded listing of last week and increased by more than 2%. For this week we do not expect any major corporate catalyst to be announced, but there will be the usual number of macroeconomic data releases.