Slowly but steadily

Regretfully, all attempts to cross the WIG-20 1700 point barrier proved unsuccessful, with the indexes of the largest and most liquid companies sticking at the 1650 level for almost three weeks. The trend differed for middle size companies. MIDWIG which includes Echo Investment and Elektrobudowa among others, grew slowly but steadily, climbing to historic heights. Indexes slumped sharply in late January for a period of two sessions. But another effort was made in early February to overcome strong psychological resistance at 1700 points for the WIG-20 index. There has still been no visible revival of the construction sector, with construction and assembly production falling 0.5% y/y. It dropped 5.9% taking the whole of 2003 into consideration. That said, the construction sector is expected to grow this year due to increasing investments, though many analysts and asset managers think any turn in construction sector sentiments will only be towards the better coping companies. Analysts claim that such changes are already evident, to mention but Budimex, the largest construction company, whose shares have risen recently following the conclusion of several lucrative contracts including one on building highways in Spain, while forecasts for others are quite good.

Contributed by:

Mirosław Kuk