PRAGUE/BUDAPEST/WARSCHAU (dpa-AFX) – Eastern Europe’s most important stock exchanges closed on Thursday with significant price losses. They thus trended in line with the international financial markets. Concerns about inflation and fears of a recession characterized global trade.
In Moscow, the RTS Index (RTS) slipped by 4.81 percent to 1345.01 points. The main reason for this were the price losses of the GAZPROM shares – they collapsed by more than 30 percent. Surprisingly, the Russian energy giant paid no dividends last year. Gazprom’s board of directors had announced a record dividend of 52.53 rubles per share in view of the high profit in the previous year. However, this proposal for the distribution of profits was rejected by the owners at the general meeting. The number of dissenting votes roughly corresponds to the number of shares that the Russian state holds in the group.
The leading Prague index PX (PX Prague Stock Exchange Index) lost 2.42 percent to 1251.75 points. With the exception of Moneta Money Bank, all stocks included in the index closed at a discount. At the high end, Moneta Money Bank gained 2.5 percent. On the losing side, Erste Group (Erste Group Bank) slipped 5.3 percent and Komercni Banka (Komercni Banka AS) slipped 3.8 percent. But the shares of the utility CEZ (CEZ AS) also suffered a significant drop of 3.9 percent.
In Budapest, the BUX fell 1.65 percent to 39,240.53 points. Richter Gedeon (Chemical Works of Richter Gedeon) lost 3.2 percent, MOL 1.8 percent and OTP 0.8 percent.
In Warsaw, the Wig 20 lost 2.15 percent to 1695.97 points. The broader wig fell 2.06 percent to 53,573.42 points. All values of the Wig 20 went from trading with price losses. The bank stocks continued their previous day’s losses: Bank Polski suffered a minus of 2.5 percent, Bank Pekao by 3 percent and mBank became cheaper by 4.5 percent.
Share certificates from the oil and gas sectors and commodity stocks also ended trading with price losses. With discounts of 4.5 percent for KGHM and 4.3 percent for PGNiG (Polskie Gorn Naft I Gazo), these were among the biggest daily losers in Wig 20./szk/ste/APA/gl/men