Central European Stocks Will Keep Rally
(Bloomberg) -- Stocks in central Europe will likely beat markets in western Europe for a seventh year in 2007, driven by faster economic growth and ``reasonable'' valuations, according to Erste Bank AG.
The NTX Index of 30 companies in emerging Europe may rise ``between 10 and 15 percent'' this year, Henning Esskuchen, co- head of central and east European research at Austria's largest bank, said in an interview. Poland shows the most attractive valuations and prospects for profit growth.
Toora Poland SA, a Polish car-parts maker, Unipetrol AS, the Czech Republic's biggest oil and chemical company, and Verbund, Austria's largest utility, are Erste's top picks for the region this year.
``You get emerging market-type of growth without paying for the risk because most of the countries are in the European Union,'' the Vienna-based analyst and strategist said in London. ``The story of convergence into the EU is still playing.''
Economies in central and eastern Europe will probably expand