Stocks report: WIG20 high, SMEs suffer

Prior to that, trading had been quiet, as most markets waited on the Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision. The Fed decided to cut its discount rate by another 25 basis points, which was very much in line with analysts' expectations. This helped to lift US indices on Wednesday, although gains were erased the next day.

In Poland, the blue-chip WIG20 index managed to set a new all-time high, but other indices were unaffected so investors were unmoved to buy further. There is still a lot of concern about small and medium-sized companies. Their benchmarks are far from early-summer highs and many investors feel frustrated and confused. The weaker performance of those shares is probably caused by the stronger złoty since there are plenty of exporters among medium-sized listed firms.

Last Friday shares of tire-maker Debica suffered the most, due to disappointing Q3 2007 results. A reversal of trend on copper futures also caused noticeable profit taking on KGHM shares, which shed five percent on the week.

In the next few weeks investors will be waiting for another wave of earnings reports as well as looking to US markets for direction.

Tomasz Jerzyk, technical analyst DM BZ WBK SA