Shares on Prague bourse fall, NWR slumps 13 percent

All titles in the SPAD system posted losses except for developer ECM in which, however, no single deal was made.

NWR, which closed at Kc176.50, dropped partly because investors assessed Wednesday's announcement of coal prices for 2010 negatively in the end, according to analysts.

"It turned out that some expectations were set too high and large players from abroad probably started to sell NWR shares," Josef Nemy from Komercni banka said.

"This was today accompanied by a fall across commodity markets and most mining companies abroad are retreating as a result, with the drop exceeding as much as 5 percent in some cases," Nemy said.

CEZ, the second energy title on the Prague market, closed 2.40 percent lower at Kc898.

Stock markets were hit by fresh data from the US labour market where the number of job seekers applying for the first time for unemployment benefits unexpectedly grew by 8,000, to which all main share indices responded by a decrease, according to Nemy.

The fall in Prague was to a large extent pulled by Austria's Erste Bank which slid by 5.5 percent to Kc691 alongside the sharp slump in the European banking sector.

Czech bank Komercni banka put off 1.4 percent to Kc3,701 following a "buy" recommendation from Deutsche Bank.

Media company CETV also considerably dropped, losing more than 6 percent to Kc515.50. In contrast, insurance group VIG dipped by only 0.05 percent.

Author: ČTK
www.ctk.cz