Czech stocks are among the worst in the world this year, falling 23 percent

According to the PX index, Czech shares fell by almost 23 percent in three quarters. They were some of the worst in the world, analysts agreed. The most profitable shares on the Prague Stock Exchange were the manufacturer of the antivirus program Avast. The biggest drop was recorded by Erste Group shares. Last year, domestic shares rose 13 percent.

"The Prague Stock Exchange and its main PX index have lost 22.75 percent since the beginning of the year, ranking more towards the end of the imaginary performance ranking," said Wood and Company broker Lukáš Novotný. According to him, this is due to the fact that almost 44 percent of the index consists of companies from the financial sector, which was hit the hardest by covid-19 and failed to correct the losses.

Shares of Erste have lost 42.7 percent since the beginning of the year, while shares of Avast have strengthened by 17.8 percent.

Stock markets underwent an extremely interesting development this year, said Capitalinked.com analyst Radim Dohnal. The first two months were marked by growing uncertainty about the general development of economies, and gradually more and more of the risk of coronavirus, first in Asia, gradually around the world. In February and the first twenty days in March, the decline accelerated. The bottom of all developed markets was in the third decade of March, regardless of whether the virus culminated in a particular country or not, he added.

According to Novotný, the worst results were shown by the Austrian stock exchange, whose main ATX index has lost almost 34 percent since the beginning of the year. The reason is that a large part of the index consists of companies from the financial and oil sectors, which have failed to recover substantially after coronavirus losses.

At the other side of the imaginary ranking is Vietnam, whose main HNX30 index has strengthened by more than 40 percent since the beginning of the year. Investors appreciated that only a small number of people in Vietnam became infected with Covid-19.

The US NASDAQ index, which monitors the technology sector in the United States, also showed good performance. It has strengthened by almost a quarter since the beginning of the year, despite a recent correction towards the 50-day average. However, the technology sector is considered by many to be significantly overestimated, Novotný pointed out.

Dohnal pointed out the difference between the stock exchanges in mainland China and Taiwan. Since the beginning of the year, Taiwan has been up three percent, while China is at zero. According to him, China was initially severely affected by coronavirus and paralyzed, while Taiwan has had only 515 cases since the beginning of the year, and instead of stopping the economy, it has taken the path of surveillance and domestic quarantine for a limited time.