CEE Weekly Stock Indices Analysis: Week of February 24th – March 1st

By: Quinnipiac University's Economics Research Team, Tyler Culp

Source: Own calculations based on data collected from each index.

During the week of February 24th, the general trend was a slight drop in stock indices across the Central European region. The weekly performance indices declined by 1-2% for all countries except Czechia which turned around by mid weeks. The Czech PX was the only country to show a slight increase, finishing the week up slightly (by a half a percent). The Hungarian BUX declined the most with a 1.5% drop over the week although the Polish and Romanian indices were close behind Budapest.

Source: Own calculations based on data collected from each index. The center line is a rolling three-month average. The upper and lower boundaries are the average plus and minus one standard deviation for the same three-month period, respectively.

Compared to its 3-month average, the Slovakian SAX remained above its historical upper bound (1 standard deviation above the average) for the entire week. The Czech PX and Polish WIG stayed relatively close to their historical upper bounds throughout the entire week. The Hungary BUX started the week at its historical high average but by the end of the week declined close to is historical average. Finally, after weeks of a return to normal levels (see Romania’s BET in yellow in the “Previous Week Index” chart), the Romanian market remained very close to the historical average. Given that nearly all markets were down this week, Romania’s performance this week is not likely an indication of a continued decline back to normal levels making Romania once again the stock index to watch for the coming week.

Note: Grey coloring indicates market date that was not available. The value used is either the previous day’s value or the following day’s value. The data was also collected from Sunday to Friday due to Poland and Hungary reporting those days.