Prague bourse falls close to 4.5-year low

Prague, Nov 20 (CTK) - Shares on the Prague Stock Exchange (BCPP) fell strongly Thursday, approaching the 4.5-year minimum, the headline PX index dropping by 5.65 percent to 733.3 points, according to the bourse's results.

Since the beginning of the year the PX index has fallen by nearly 60 percent.

According to analysts, the Prague bourse followed the unfavourable development on foreign share markets, mainly in the USA.

"Share markets are falling all over the world, affected both by reports on growing unemployment and by companies lowering their outlooks for profit," Next Finance chief economist Vladimir Pikora said.

Selloffs hit mainly the developer Orco Property, which wrote off 23.38 percent to a new low of Kc137.95. At end-2007, Orco traded for more than Kc2,100, and at the times of investors' biggest interest it even traded for more than Kc3,700.

The mining company NWR dropped to its lowest value as well, shedding 11.09 percent to Kc61.25. The company, which owns the Czech black-coal mining firm OKD, did not benefit even from the announcement of a 137-percent yr/yr increase in net profit to EUR259m in Jan-Sept.

The reason is investors' fear of a further decrease in prices of raw materials. "Energy titles like CEZ and NWR are pulled down by the low price of oil, which stands at around 50 dollars per barrel," Pikora said.

The power group CEZ weakened by 5.65 percent to Kc664.5.

Financial titles were losing as well. Komercni banka shed 9.99 percent to Kc2,478, Vienna Insurance Group sank by 7.18 percent to Kc472 and Erste Group Bank went down by 6.4 percent to Kc343.5.

The most stable shares were those supported by takeover bids. The pharmaceutical company Zentiva weakened by 1.46 percent to Kc1,082, and the developer ECM even added 0.17 percent to Kc297.5. After the close of trading ECM announced that its board had approved an intention to issue new privately placed primary shares.