Where’s our winter?

Encouraged by the superb Q3 growth in GDP (5.8 pct) and the excellent production output, export and retail sales data in Q4, investors have started to buy more and more Polish stocks. As a result, the WIG20 blue-chip index continued to scale new heights in December, finishing up at over 3,400 pts. Just before Christmas and at the end of the year, stock prices slid in the wake of modest turnovers and little demand was visible – investors were mainly looking to consolidate and lock in profits for the year.

The beginning of the new year is a good time to review the previous 12 months. 2006 was another profitable year for investors as a consequence of the booming global stock markets, of the huge inflow of money into pension and mutual funds, and – of course – of firms’ high profitability. The main index rose by 40 pct and the WIG 20 by over 20 pct. When it came to the sector indexes, the best of the best was (again!) the WIG BUD, which gained over 150 pct.  Big investors tended to focus on companies in this sector due to its strong development within the Polish economy, especially regarding infrastructure and housing and commercial development. In December, one of the biggest mutual fund managers – ING – announced that it was going to launch its first open-ended sectored investment fund, offering retail investors a shot at the construction, real-estate and building materials sectors. This fund will invest mainly in Poland, but some activity on markets in Czech, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria is probable.

      (mir)