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bne December 2020 Cover story I 33
Prague Stock Exchange’s PX index has strengthened since November 10.
Prague’s PX strengthens
The Prague Stock Exchange’s PX index strengthened on November 10, closing above 900 points for the first time in two months, up by 1.23% to 904.38 points.
This was mainly driven by banking stocks; Komercni Banka and Erste Bank rose by more than 4% and 3% respectively. As in Poland, compa- nies that had previously received a pandemic boost did less well, among them the non-woven textile producer PFNonwovens, which primarily serves the personal hygiene products mar- ket. As the pandemic spread across Europe, PFNonwovens launched new production of face mask material in response to soaring demand for per- sonal protective equipment (PPE).
According to Fio Bank analyst Josef Dudek, developments on the Prague
Stock Exchange were affected by the previous day’s report on successful
tests of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine. "This means that the financial sector in particular has moved further to higher levels, while technology has failed," he said, quoted by the Czech News Agency.
Meanwhile, the technology company Avast broke out of its daily losses in the final auction and eventually added
a slight 0.36% to CZK137.70. Richest Czech Petr Kellner’s O2 operator increased less than half a percent to CZK227.
Since then the rise has continued. On November 18 the index achieved its highest growth since mid-July. The highest increase was posted by Moneta Money Bank, up by 2.7% to CZK64.70, followed by Erste Group by 2.29% to CZK625.2 and Komercni Banka by 1.39% to CZK584.
Hungary’s Richter buoyed
by vaccine news
The Budapest Stock Exchange's main BUX index finished the week ending November 20 up 2.33%
at 38,205 points. The markets remained on an upward trend since the US elections as the benchmark index rose from 32,000 points.
One company to watch is CEE's leading pharma group Richter, whose shares moved up 5.8% to HUF6,975 to end
the week. The company kicked off the week on a strong note despite receiving bad news from the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has recommended the restricted use of its flagship original drug Esyma. Analysts said news about Moderna's vaccine lifted the share price on November 16. Richter extended gains in the middle of the week after Pfizer revised the efficacy of its own vaccine.
The Budapest Stock Exchange's main BUX index finished the week ending November 20 up 2.33% at 38,205 points.
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