By Leos Rousek
TODAY'S CALENDAR
Local/GMT
N/A Slovak, EU, Ukraine talks on gas flows
N/A Polish oil refiner PKN Orlen 1Q results
N/A Czech oil refiner Unipetrol 1Q earnings
1000/0800 Polish March retail sales
Talks on reverse supplying natural gas from Europe to Ukraine
are likely to be keenly watched on Thursday.
EU-member Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, is offering to supply
the former Soviet country up to 9 billion cubic meters of gas a
year through its underused pipeline that links the eastern Slovak
town of Vojany with the western Ukrainian town of Uzhgorod. This
way Slovakia would avoid reversing gas flows in its section of a
bulk pipeline, connecting Russia and the EU via Ukraine, which
supplies more than 50 billion cubic meters of gas a year to
Europe.
Earlier the month, Russia's state-owned natural gas company OAO
Gazprom said it would eliminate discounts that Ukraine had received
on its natural gas purchases from Russia. The reduced prices had
been negotiated before the recent escalation of political and
military tensions between Kiev and Moscow. Moscow has threatened to
halt gas supplies to Ukraine unless Kiev pays its overdue gas
bills.
Facing gas shortages ahead of the next winter, the Ukrainian
government has sought to negotiate emergency supplies of energy
from its nearest EU neighbors who in turn rely on Russian gas.
In Warsaw, crude oil refiner PKN Orlen SA (PKN.WA) will release
its earnings for the three months to end-March. It is expected to
have swung to a net loss of 9 million zlotys from a profit of
PLN145 million in the year-earlier quarter, as lower oil prices
squeeze production margins at its less efficient Lithuanian
refining unit.
In Prague, Unipetrol, the largest Czech refinery that is
majority owned by PKN Orlen, will release its first-quarter
earnings. It is expected to have posted a small profit owing to
cost cutting at its two local facilities. No market consensus for
the company's results was available.
FOREX
EUR/CZK
Latest 0150 GMT 27.454-66
Previous 2150 GMT 27.437-67
%Chg +0.03
EUR/HUF
Latest 0150 GMT 306.96-7.32
Previous 2150 GMT 306.85-7.32
% Chg +0.02
EUR/PLN
Latest 0150 GMT 4.1866-908
Previous 2150 GMT 4.1856-903
% Chg +0.02
FIXED INCOME
Hungary
Wed Tue
3 yrs 4.46% 4.43%
5 yrs 4.70% 4.65%
10yrs 5.59% 5.56%
Poland
Wed Tue
3 yrs 3.03% 3.04%
5 yrs 3.52% 3.52%
10yrs 4.11% 4.12%
Czech Republic
Wed Tue
3 yrs 0.43% 0.44%
5 yrs 0.88% 0.88%
10yrs 1.93% 1.93%
STOCKS
WIG 20
2,453.48-5.82-0.24%
BUX
17,774.54-110.02-0.62%
PX
1,007.80-4.40-0.43%
OTHER NEWS
POLAND: Polish lawmakers quarreled Wednesday over whether Pope
John Paul II should be honored with a parliamentary declaration to
mark his canonization as a saint, a sign of growing secularist
forces in his predominantly Catholic homeland.
UKRAINE: Russia warned on Wednesday that any attack on its
citizens in Ukraine would be considered an attack on Russia itself,
as the Ukrainian government resumed its military operation against
pro-Russian militants who have taken over several cities in the
eastern part of the country.
Write to Leos Rousek at leos.rousek@wsj.com
Go to http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope for the new WSJ and
Dow Jones blog on Central and Eastern Europe, covering business,
politics, society and more, written by our correspondents across
the region.