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VIENNA (dpa-AFX) – The Vienna Stock Exchange closed on Wednesday with clear price gains. The ATX ended trading up 1.14 percent at 2995.95 points. The ATX prime improved by 1.07 percent to 1512.31 units. Price gains were also observed on the leading European stock exchanges and on Wall Street in the run-up to the eagerly awaited announcement of the US interest rate decision.
In Vienna, the heavily weighted bank stocks in particular pushed the ATX higher. The prospect of rising interest rates on both sides of the Atlantic may have been supportive here. The shareholders of Raiffeisen Bank International were able to record a strong increase of 5.5 percent. Erste Group increased in price by 1.8 percent.
The major Italian bank and Bank Austria parent company Unicredit has already increased its forecast for the current year following surprisingly high profits in the second quarter. According to the company, the group is benefiting from rising interest rates in Europe.
Among the other heavyweights in Vienna, Wienerberger achieved a plus of 2.8 percent. Andritz gained 1.4 percent. OMV share certificates increased by 2.3 percent. The stocks of the catering company Do&Co improved by 4.6 percent.
AT&S papers fell by 0.8 percent to 49.55 euros. The analysts at Berenberg Bank have left both their “sell” investment recommendation and the price target of EUR 38.00 for the printed circuit board manufacturer’s shares unchanged. The expert responsible, Gustav Froberg, expects strong sales growth in the forthcoming quarterly figures for the group, but points to the high costs of growth. There might also be potential cyclical headwinds for the company.
Telekom Austria closed up 0.7 percent at EUR 6.14. The analysts at Raiffeisen Research have confirmed their “buy” recommendation for shares in the telecom group. The target price of EUR 9.0 was also left unchanged. The latest second quarter numbers were rated as solid and slightly above expectations.
Internationally, the topic of the day was the announcement of the US key interest rate decision that was scheduled for the evening. A strong interest rate hike by the Fed is fully priced in and should therefore hardly cause price fluctuations, wrote the Helaba analysts in their daily outlook. The mixture of gas shortages and increases in prices with rising interest rates and a simultaneous slowdown in economic momentum is actually toxic for share prices, the experts said. The relative composure of investors is probably due to the fact that the stock exchanges have already lost significant value since the beginning of the year./ste/szk/APA/nas