No fun in the sun for investors

The heat was mainly on the markets of Western Europe and the USA, so Warsaw trading activity once again remained very much under the influence of the European and American bourses. When the Greek parliament adopted its five-year savings plan - a pre-condition for obtaining help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund - Western stock exchanges soared, turning the last week of the first half of 2011 into the best of the year so far. But what about Poland? When the London FTSE index grew by over 5 pct during that week, Warsaw's WIG 20 went up by 0.6 pct. However, the euphoria was brief and each piece of news about the Greek parliament's problems forcing through the necessary reforms triggered more falls on the stock exchanges, with the knock-on effect of weakening the euro against the Swiss franc. The issue of a bail-out for Portugal was re-visited at the beginning of July, but it was Italy that turned out to be the real bombshell, sparking panic on the markets. The d