October 12 (SeeNews) - The Crobex share index of the Zagreb Stock Exchange resumed its upward surge on Friday to reach a fresh record-high after a fall on Thursday, brokers said.
"The positive trend continued the whole week, primarily driven by gains in telecom T-HT, following its bourse debut last Friday," one broker told SeeNews.
T-HT's IPO attracted unexpectedly strong interest, both from individuals and institutional investors and was more than seven times oversubscribed. In search of easy profits, every 13th Croat has subscribed for shares of the IPO, for many their first experience in trading shares.
The IPO has attracted new investors, some of whom will take profits and invest their T-HT gains in other shares, the broker said.
T-HT ended the week as the most liquid share on Friday. Its shares rose by 1.32%, ended at 390 kuna and attracted turnover of 67.1 million kuna. The IPO price was 265 kuna per share.
Shipping companies were in focus for investors and saw a rise due to increased shipping rates, the broker said.
Shares of shipping company Atlantska Plovidba gained 1.10% to 3,599 kuna on relatively high 87 million kuna of turnover.
Construction firms also saw solid growth, the broker added.
Blue-chip construction company Tehnika rose by 1.85% and ended at 11,000 kuna on 5.5 million kuna turnover.
The rising trend will continue in the short-term until general elections next month, the broker said.
Croatia's parliament dissolved earlier on Friday and President Stjepan Mesic is expected to officially schedule the elections for November 25 next Wednesday.
The 30-share Crobex added 0.86 % and closed at 5,309.6.
Turnover in shares and bonds in floor trading fell to 232.4 million kuna ($45.1 million/31.7 million euro), from 270.8 million kuna a day earlier.
The 20-share Croemi index, calculated by commercial bank Raiffeisenbank Austria, was down by 0.40% to 4,339.76 points. Investors who bet on Crobex or Croemi have gained more than 60% since the beginning of the year.
The CROX index of the seven most traded stocks on the ZSE, which the Vienna Stock Exchange launched this summer, added 0.21% to end at 2,862.95 points in euro terms.
Overall, gainers outnumbered losers by 85 to 34 and 14 shares ended unchanged.
The fixed-income Crobis edged down by 0.07% to 97.9090 points.
(1 euro= 7.3212 Croatian kuna)