Warsaw bourse hits record high ahead of elections

20 Sep, 2005

The Warsaw bourse's key WIG 20 index closed at a record high on Monday as expectations of a centre-right victory in elections next Sunday and a healthy economy sparked buying by foreign and local investors.
The index closed up 2.2 percent on the day at 2,507 points, boosted by rallying stock prices of leading banks, telecom firms and oil companies, on heavy turnover of nearly 1.3 billion zlotys ($405.4 million).
Poland's largest banks - PKO BP and Pekao - jumped 4.8 percent and 2.5 percent respectively to record closing highs of 33 zlotys and 187 zlotys, on expectations that falling interest rates and healthy economic growth will boost credit.
Top fuels group PKN Orlen and its smaller peer Lotos saw their shares gain 2.2 percent and 3.5 percent to 63.9 zlotys and 41.1 zlotys respectively.
On Monday, banking giant Citigroup lifted Polish equities to "overweight" from "neutral," saying the upcoming elections look poised to usher in a period of economic reform that could spur growth and raise corporate profits.
The liberal Civic Platform and conservative Law and Justice are expected to take power after the September 25 elections, where Poles are set to punish the ruling left for years of sleaze scandals and failure to curb high unemployment. Among other top gainers in the large-cap WIG 20 index on Monday was dominant phone operator TPSA, up 4.8 percent at 26.3 zlotys, and leading television broadcaster TVN, which rose 3.6 percent to 57.7 zlotys. Some analysts attributed the bull run to the flow of outside money rather than Poland's fundamentals.

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