What happened on July 15?
Foreign investors have been getting excited about Polish stocks this year. Not only is GDP growth in Poland (7% in the first quarter of this year) the best in central and eastern Europe, but the stock market has developed into one of the region's most liquid, with a large retail as well as institutional investor base. Poland also managed to stave off a Czech- or Thai-style attack on its currency from foreign speculators this summer.
But the main reason for foreign investors' excitement was two big privatizations that came to the market within three weeks of each other this summer. First was the IPO of Bank Handlowy w Warsawy, followed three weeks later by KGHM, the seventh-largest copper-producing mine in the world.
Too much for the market?
Together they represented an increase of $1 billion in the stock exchange's market capitalization. By comparison, $3 billion...
