A little bit of politics

Since the beginning of the year the threat of early elections has been worrying the financial markets in Poland, but in March this was not the only reason for the falls on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

At the end of March, the possibility of spring elections reared  is head in Poland again, but investors seem to have become hardened to the political turbulence over the last few months. The major reason for gloominess in March was a change in global capital flows - after a rise in US and Euro Zone interest rates, assets in Pola nd are less profitable, and added to this was the impact of the Polish central bank lowering interest rates at the end of February. Overall, March was not a good month for emerging markets.
Turning to the construction sector on the WSE, we can see that the losses suffered on the main indexes haven\\\'t affected it too much. For developers listed on the WSE, March was indeed a fabulous month, with shares in GTC and Echo increasing significantly. After announcing big investment plans worth USD 600 million, GTC is preparing a new share issue, and investors seem to be impressed by the range of the company\\\'s projects. Additionally, GTC\\\'s results for 2005 were also impressive in comparison with 2004. Meanwhile, Echo is planning an expansion of its Eastern European operations. The share price of the biggest construction company - Polimex - is growing too after the announcement of an ambitious plan for acquisitions in 2006. The future seems to be bright for Mostostal Warszawa, with the company\\\'s order book getting bigger and bigger - lately it has signed a contract worth PLN 57 mln net for the building of a block of apartments in Warsaw. The company has also had a successful public offer recently. 

(mir)