Friday January 11, 12:05 PM
Central European shares recover poise after hefty losses, still shaky
WARSAW (Thomson Financial) - Central European shares were mixed at midday with bargain hunters appearing to buy into leading stocks, sending Czech energy group CEZ and the largest banks a touch higher after a dramatic slide so far in 2008.
At 12.11 CET, Warsaw's blue-chip WIG20 index and the broader WIG gauge were down just 0.15 pct each, comparing favourably with double-digit losses so far this year.
Prague's main PX index added 0.9 pct, while Budapest's BUX was off 0.7 pct after outperforming its regional peers this week.
Poland's biggest banks, hurt the most by subprime worries, led the pack. Unicredit unit Pekao gained 0.5 pct while state-controlled PKO rose 1 pct.
KGHM, Europe's largest copper miner, was flat. UniCredit brokerage upped the company to 'buy' from 'hold' in a note issued to clients yesterday.
The region's biggest company, power group CEZ rose 1.9 pct rise, with gains for Prague-listed developer ECM, as well as Erste Bank and Telefonica (Madrid: TEF.MC - news) 02 also boosting the Czech bourse.
'Some bargain hunters have appeared, but even they remain cautious,' said one Prague-based trader.
'Everybody is still thinking two, three times before investing.'
In Budapest, drug maker Richter rose almost 1 pct on the back of optimism around its regional expansion plans, offsetting losses in other major stocks.
Electricity utilities fell sharply in morning deals as Germany's RWE AG (Xetra: 703712 - news) said Hungarian electricity wholesaler MVM beat it out in a tender for a 10.54 stake in Elmu, cooling speculation of a similar move for BUX-listed Emasz (Frankfurt: A0DNVC - news) .
Elmu, a small-cap in Budapest, fell 5.49 pct to 29,005 forint while Emasz slipped 3.57 pct to 24,600 forint.
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