WSE closes slightly lower amid fears of global recession

The Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) closed only slightly lower yesterday after Tuesday's terrorist attacks on the US rocked financial markets worldwide and raised global recession worries. The WSE recorded a fall of just 0.7% at the close of trading, but according to analysts it is too early for relief. "Investors have shown good stress resistance. The market reaction is very balanced," WSE chairman Wieslaw Rozlucki told journalists. According to Tomasz Mazurczak, head of market research at BRE Bank brokerage, "Investment risk is growing in the world. Unless we have an escalation of the conflict, the Warsaw bourse may recoup the losses in the coming weeks." Analysts stress, however, that the US tragedy threatens the whole global financial market. "The companies most at risk include airlines, brokerages and insurance companies," said Pawel Wojtaszek from Erste Securities. Analysts with brokerage BDM PKO BP claim that a global recession is now a virtual certainty. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 15; Reuters) M.T.