Belišće Stock Rises 14.25 Percent

In today’s lethargic trading on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, the only standout is the Belišće stock, which has become an ‘investment star’ following the announcement from the Austrian Duropack regarding the obligation to acquire it.

At 12:00 PM, the Crobex index was down 0.42 percent, at 2,151 points. The Crobex10, on the other hand, weakened by 0.38 percent, to 1,142 points. The regular trading volume amounted to only 6.2 million kuna, which is approximately the same as yesterday at this time. “The star of the day is the Belišće stock, after the Austrian Duropack reported at 11 AM about the emergence of its obligation to acquire the company. Investors reacted immediately, speculating that the acquisition price would be higher than today’s starting price, which was 475 kuna,” says Stipe Laća, broker and investment advisor at the brokerage firm Finesa Capital. The rest of the market is mostly recording declines in stock prices. “For days, the market has been moving within a narrow price range. It is occasionally jolted from lethargy only by positive news from the business sector, such as today’s announcement of the acquisition of Belišće or some speculation,” Laća points out.

Duropack reported to the Zagreb Stock Exchange this morning that it holds 311,033 shares of Belišće, representing 26.71 percent of the registered share capital of the target company, thus creating an obligation to acquire for the Austrian company. The Austrian firm will, within the deadlines and as prescribed by the Law on Takeover of Joint Stock Companies, announce an offer to acquire Belišće. So far, the Belišće stock has achieved a turnover of 1.8 million kuna, and its price at one point jumped 14.25 percent, nearing 540 kuna. It is currently trading at 516 kuna. The IGH stock, on the other hand, achieved a turnover of 1.5 million kuna, and its price weakened by 3.1 percent under selling pressure, to 2,892 kuna. Among the millionaires, only the T-HT stock has been included so far. Its price has slightly decreased by 0.4 percent, to 306.2 kuna.

On foreign exchanges, the focus of investors is on today’s strike of workers in the public and private sectors of Greece due to wage freezes, and later in the day, guidance should be provided by the speech of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke in Congress. “Since last week’s announcement of raising the discount rate in the U.S. was not accompanied by any explanation from the Fed, investors will closely monitor Bernanke’s speech today in search of any signals of a change in his rhetoric regarding the previous policy of ‘keeping interest rates at record lows for an extended period of time’,” Laća notes. U.S. futures indices are currently in the red, while the major European stock indices are slightly up. (H)