PRAGUE, April 29 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Friday.
ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours) =========================ECONOMIC DATA=========================
March money supply data at 0800 GMT.
Real-time economic data releases....................<ECONCZ>
Previous stories on Czech data.............[
]Overview of economic data and forecasts..........<CZ/ECON15>
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KUTNA HORA - Cigarette maker Philip Morris CR <
> to hold an annual shareholders' meeting.Related news: [
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PRAGUE - Chemicals group Unipetrol <
>, a unit of Poland's PKN Orlen <PKNA.WA>, to hold a news conference on first quarter results at 0900 GMT. Conference call to be held at 1200 GMT. Net profit came in in line with expectations.
PRAGUE - Conference on the European Economic Governance (0700 GMT).
Related news: [
] ============================TOP NEWS===========================UNIPETROL Q1 IN LINE: Czech downstream oil group Unipetrol <
> reported a 50 percent rise in first quarter net profit on Friday, in line with market expectations.Story: [
] Related news: [ ]
CZECH TELEFONICA APPROVES DIVIDEND: Shareholders of telecom group Telefonica O2 Czech Republic <
> approved on Thursday a 40 crown per share dividend from last year's profit and retained earnings, samTe as last year.Story: [
] Related news: [ ]
ALL C.BANKERS TO ATTEND RATE MEETING: All seven board members of the Czech central bank governing board will attend the bank's May 5 meeting on policy, the bank said on Thursday.
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YIELD DROPS AT T-BILL AUCTION: Following are results of Thursday's auction of 13-week Czech Treasury bills <CZ22907617=> compared with the previous sale of bills with the same maturity.
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CEE MARKETS: Emerging European currencies traded near recent highs on Thursday, tracking euro gains against the dollar after first quarter U.S. economic growth came in weaker than expected.
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CEE POWER: Czech day-ahead power prices fell further on Thursday on higher wind power generation while the front month gained as the contract nears delivery, traders said.
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] Related news [ ] ---------------------- MARKET SNAPSHOT ------------------------ Index/Crown Currency Latest Prev Pct change Pct changeclose on day in 2011 vs Euro <EURCZK=> 24.083 24.109 0.11 3.67 vs Dollar <CZK=> 16.246 16.264 0.11 12.97 Czech Equities <
> 1,264.2 1,264.2 0.05 3.22 U.S. Equities < > 12,763.31 12,690.96 0.57 10.24 Pvs close or current levels vs prior domestic close at 1500 GMT ==========================PRESS DIGEST=========================C.BANKER: SOFTER RULES FOR BANKING GROUPS A WRONG STEP: Czech central bank Vice Governor Vladimir Tomsik said the European Commission's proposal for softer rules regulating transactions between units of an international banking group and the parent company would be a step in a wrong direction. Supervisors would then have a harder time to check transfers of assets and liquidity of the financial groups. Transactions within the group should take place under market conditions to secure the sectors stability, Tomsik said.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 10
NUCLEAR POWER: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said it was necessary to make revisions of the present safety standards linked with nuclear power plants. The International Atomic Energy Agency work must be strengthened in the area of nuclear safety. He said we must better focus on links between natural disasters and nuclear safety and we have to make a new analysis of costs and benefits of nuclear power and protect nuclear material from abuse by terrorists.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 10
PENSION REFORM: Junior coalition partner Public Affairs said they wanted a state-run pension fund to be created as part of the second pillar of the new pension system. The fund would invest in Czech government bonds or bonds of other countries with a similar credit rating, and would be guaranteed by the states. Pension accounts should be anonymous.
Pravo, page 3
EPH IPO: Energy group Energeticky a Prumyslovy Holding is making preparations to offer its shares in an initial public offering in two years, its co-owner Daniel Kretinsky said. The issue would take place in Prague, Bratislava and Warsaw, Kretinsky said.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 18
POWER PRICES: Power prices for households will rise in the order of single digits next year, CEZ Chief Operating Officer Daniel Benes said. He said he did not expect a further rise in power prices on power exchanges by the end of the year and the price could actually moderately decline. He said price should not exceed 60 euros per megawatt hour.
Lidove Noviny, page 13
ANOTHER VIEW ON POWER PRICES: Royal Bank of Scotland's energy unit Executive Director Wim Furthmann said power prices in central Europe could rise to upto 90 euros per megawatt hour in 1-2 years from around 60 euros in the Fukushima aftermath.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 18
Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it vouch for their accuracy.
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