PRAGUE/BUDAPEST/WARSCHAU (dpa-AFX) – The most important Eastern European stock exchanges closed unevenly on Monday. While the stock markets in Prague and Moscow followed the general downward trend in the European market, the stock exchanges in Warsaw and Budapest went up.
On the Polish stock market, the leading index Wig-20 increased by 0.46 percent to 2136.87 points. The broader Wig gained 0.63 percent to 70,682.89 points. The focus was on securities from the energy sector, which benefited from current sector developments.
Poland is pushing ahead with the transformation of its energy sector, which is dependent on coal-fired power plants. The government wants to buy the coal-fired power plants of several state-controlled, listed utilities for a total of more than 780 million euros. That became known on Saturday. This is intended to remove financing obstacles for these corporations, because many banks no longer give money to coal-dependent companies.
The coal-fired power plants of PGE, Enea, Tauron (TAURON Polska Energia SA) and Energa are to be transferred to the new state company NABE. PGE shares reacted to the news by jumping nearly 15 percent, Tauron shares rose 22.4 percent and Enea gained nearly a third in value.
In Budapest, the BUX rose 0.22 percent to 51,971.31 points. The titles with the highest turnover were those of OTP Bank (Orságos Takar És Ker BK ON). However, they only increased by 0.1 percent. The share of the oil company MOL went up significantly with a premium of 0.8 percent. Opus Global rose 3.0 percent, while pharmaceutical stock Richter Gedeon (Chemical Works of Richter Gedeon) lost 0.2 percent.
In the Czech Republic, the leading index PX (PX Prague Stock Exchange Index) fell by 0.10 percent to 1309.69 units. Most bank stocks rose. Moneta Money Bank climbed 2.2 percent, Komercni Banka (Komercni Banka AS) rose 0.3 percent. Erste Group, on the other hand, lost 0.5 percent.
In Moscow, the RTS index (RTS) fell by 0.48 percent to 1009.79 units./kat/kve/APA/ck/stw