PRAGUE/BUDAPEST/WARSCHAU (dpa-AFX) – Eastern Europe’s most important stock markets mostly closed on Monday with a firm trend. Only in Budapest did we head south at the start of the week. Most trading venues followed the upbeat move in Western Europe and Wall Street, where the recent fall in gas prices and falling US Treasury yields were the dominant themes.
The Prague PX (PX Prague Stock Exchange Index) rose by 0.61 percent to 1171.40 points. The leading Czech index was mainly supported by the heavily weighted bank stocks. Shares in Erste Group (Erste Group Bank) rose by 1.2 percent and shares in Komercni Banka (Komercni Banka AS) by 2.5 percent. Meanwhile, the shares in the utility CEZ (CEZ AS), which went 3.4 percent lower from trading, recorded significant losses.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange also closed clearly in the profit zone. The Wig-20 rose by 1.53 percent to 1433.21 points. The broader wig increased by 1.29 percent to 47,370.66 points.
Among other things, bank stocks were sought. PKO Bank Polski and Santander Bank Polska rose 1.1 and 0.5 percent, respectively. After the quarterly figures were presented, Bank Millennium’s shares climbed 5.9 percent.
In Hungary, on the other hand, the BUX fell by 0.84 percent to 40,091.89 points. On the downside, heavyweight OTP fell 1.2 percent. The Hungarian government announced over the weekend that it would limit lending rates for small and medium-sized enterprises, which is likely to weigh on the core business of Hungary’s largest bank, said Erste Group analyst Thomas Unger.
Gedeon Richter’s shares fell 1.7 percent after rising sharply before the weekend.
The Moscow Stock Exchange closed with gains on Monday. The Russian RTS Index (RTS) closed with a premium of 1.15 percent at 1062.66 points./spa/ste/APA/bek