Erste Group Drops, Leads Czech Stocks’ Second Week of Declines

Erste Group Bank AG (RBAG) led Czech shares down for a second week as JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s $2 billion surprise trading loss added to concern the euro area may not contain its debt crisis, driving investors from riskier assets worldwide.

The Austrian lender slumped 1.9 percent to 404.3 koruna by 10:30 a.m. in Prague, poised for a 3.7 percent weekly drop, its biggest since the five days ended April 6. The Czech PX (PX) index, in which Erste has a 19 percent weighting, slid 0.3 percent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Krystof Chamonikolas in Prague at kchamonikola@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gavin Serkin at gserkin@bloomberg.net