PRAGUE, July 23 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial
markets on Thursday:
ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours)
=========================ECONOMIC DATA=========================
Real-time economic data releases....................<ECONCZ>
Previous stories on Czech data.............[]
Overview of economic data and forecasts..........<CZ/ECON15>
Updates on CEE currencies.............................[]
===========================EVENTS=============================
PRAGUE - Czech central bank governing board to hold a
regular weekly meeting. It is not scheduled to discuss monetary
policy issues.
Related news []
===========================TOP NEWS=============================
CO2 PERMITS: The upper house of the Czech parliament
approved a draft law on Wednesday on distributing free carbon
dioxide permits to firms including the biggest electricity maker
CEZ <>.
Story [] Related news []
10-YR BOND: Investors swooped for Czech 10-year bonds in
Wednesday's auction in the best-bid sale measured by the
bid/cover ratio since the paper was launched in March.
Story [] Related news []
First round []
Second round []
FINMIN OUTLOOK: The Czech economy will contract twice as
fast this year as previously expected and the fiscal gap will
grow faster as the economy suffers from a drop in foreign
demand, the Finance Ministry said on Wednesday.
Story [] Related news []
CEE MARKETS: Central European currencies and bonds paused
after a multi-day rally and stocks fell on Wednesday, with a
worsening growth outlook and nagging Latvia worries somewhat
offset by another well-bid debt tender.
Story [] Related news []
---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------
Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct change
close on day in 2009
Czech Equities <> 0 955 0 n/a
vs Euro <EURCZK=> 25,745 25,757 0,02 -3,77
vs Dollar <CZK=> 18,053 18,131 -0,43 5,55
U.S. Equities <> 8881,26 8915,94 -0,39 1,19
Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500
=========================PRESS DIGEST=========================
MORTGAGES: Mortgage lending fell by a 34.2 percent in the
first half of 2009 to 40.1 billion crowns ($2.21 billion), a
research by consultancy Fincentrum among nine Czech banks
showed. If the situation does not improve, the total volume of
provided mortgages will be 75 billion crowns by the end of 2009,
the same as in 2005.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 14
CEZ: Czech power group CEZ <> plans to apply in
following weeks for antitrust approval to acquire some former
International Power <IPR.L> assets from Czech-Slovak group J&T.
Miner Czech Coal reiterated it would use all legal means to halt
the acquisition.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 14
PANASONIC: Japan's Panasonic Corp <6752.T> plans to raise
production of TV sets in its Czech unit in Plzen by 15 percent
this year from last year's 2.5 million. The company's global
production of both LCD and plasma TV sets should rise to 15
million from last year's 10 million, head of Panasionic's
European operations Laurent Abadie said.
Ekonom, page 28
Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy.
For Instant Views of key economic data click on []
For summary of economic data and forecasts <CZ/ECON01>
For diary of forthcoming Czech events []
For calendar of east European economic indicators []
TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets []
TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch []
For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the United
States and other Group of Seven countries see <G7TODAY>
For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets:
Warsaw WIG20 <> Budapest BUX <> Prague PX <>
News editor of the day: Jan Lopatka on +420 224 190 474;
fax: +420 224 229 935
E-mail: prague.newsroom@reuters.com
(Compiled by Jana Mlcochova)
