GDP Decline Cools Investors on the Zagreb Stock Exchange

With the already customary anemic trading, the indices on the Zagreb Stock Exchange are stagnating with a negative sign today, which is not surprising given the poor sentiment on global stock markets and a greater than expected decline in domestic GDP in the second quarter.

The Crobex index was down 0.4 percent at 12:00 PM, at 1,841 points, while Crobex10 was down 0.38 percent, at 980 points. Regular trading in shares amounted to 5.8 million kuna, što je otprilike milijun kuna više nego jučer u ovo doba. "With still anemic trading and a lack of corporate news to inject vitality, it was to be expected that trading on the domestic stock exchange today would have a negative sign, given yesterday’s decline in American stock indices and today’s negative sentiment on European markets," says Dalibor Balgač, an analyst in the Economic Research Department of Hypo Alpe Adria Bank. On European stock exchanges, share prices have slightly fallen today, and they are on track to record losses for the third consecutive week as investors remain concerned about the slowing global economic recovery following a series of poor indicators. The Frankfurt DAX, Paris CAC, and London FTSE indices are currently down between 0.1 and 0.3 percent. Investors are awaiting the release of the second estimate of the American Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter for new guidance. American futures indices are currently stagnating.

On the domestic market, the highest turnover so far has been achieved by the privileged share of Adris, amounting to 1.8 million kuna. Its price has slightly weakened, by 0.47 percent, to 255 kuna. Following is the share of HT, with a turnover of 1.7 million kuna and a price drop of 0.43 percent, to 256 kuna. The share of INA has also entered the millionaires’ club, with its price stagnating at 1,650 kuna. Meanwhile, the State Bureau of Statistics announced that the gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year fell by 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year, which is the same rate of decline as in the first quarter, but higher than expected. Eight macroeconomists who participated in a Hina survey estimated that the economic decline in the second quarter ranged between 1.5 and 2.8 percent. On average, they expected a GDP decline of 2.3 percent."The latest data on the GDP decline shows that the domestic macroeconomic picture remains bleak, and this is one of the main reasons for the anemic trading on the domestic stock exchange," concludes Balgač. (H)