Today, the Zagreb Stock Exchange recorded slightly higher liquidity than in previous days, but also a greater decline in stock prices, causing the Crobex to drop to its lowest level since mid-April. The regular turnover of shares reached 45.7 million kuna by 1 PM.
The Crobex index weakened by 1.79 percent compared to yesterday, to 3,385 points, što is its lowest level since mid-April. "Today’s trading is characterized by stronger liquidity than in previous days, alongside a greater decline in the stock index. Given the new news coming from global exchanges, it seems certain that the market has not yet reached its bottom," says Kristian Korunić, investment advisor at the brokerage firm Šted-Kapital.
On European exchanges, stock prices are down today, following a sharp decline in prices on Wall Street yesterday, primarily due to growing concerns about the health of the American financial sector. There are doubts about whether Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest American investment bank, can find fresh capital to cover losses incurred during the mortgage market crisis. "Foreign investors are troubled by doubts that there is still a large amount of undisclosed losses in the global banking sector related to the crisis in the American mortgage market, which could come to light with the business results for the third quarter," explains Korunić.
With the latest estimates of weakening economic activity in the Eurozone, all this does not provide reasons for optimism in the domestic market either. The European Commission today lowered its growth forecasts for 2008, now expecting growth of 1.3 percent in the 15-member Eurozone and 1.4 percent in the 27-member European Union. The forecasts have been lowered by approximately half a percentage point compared to previous estimates by the Commission. The highest turnover on the exchange so far has been achieved by the preferred share of Adris Group, amounting to 15.6 million kuna.
