Polish Stocks Climb Most in Week as Mining Stocks Jump on Taxes

Polish stocks climbed for a second day, with the benchmark index heading for the biggest advance in in a week, as coal and copper producers jumped after a court ruling on mining taxes.

The WIG20 Index increased 1.6 percent to 2,230.84 at 2:10 p.m. in Warsaw, trimming this week’s drop to 0.8 percent.

Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka SA (LWB), the country’s second-largest publicly traded coal producer, soared as much as 4.6 percent to 112.9 zloty, the biggest intraday gain in a week, and last traded 3.6 percent higher at 111.8 zloty. The company had reserves of 73 million zloty ($23 million) at the end of June for payments of a tax that was struck down by the Constitutional Tribunal, Tomasz Zieba, a spokesman for the company, said today.

Jastrzebska Spolka Weglowa SA rose for a second day, adding 1.2 percent to 97.7 zloty, after the European Union’s largest coking-coal producer said it may book financial gains of about 435 million zloty after the court ruled that mining excavations should not be considered as construction works and should be free of real-estate taxes.

KGHM Polska Miedz SA (KGH), Poland’s sole copper-mining company, climbed 1.4 percent to 160 zloty, heading for the highest close this week. Dariusz Wyborski, a KGHM spokesman, had no immediate comment on the benefits for the company after the ruling.

PKO Bank Polski SA, Poland’s biggest lender, added 3.3 percent to 30.9 zloty, increasing for a second day, and Bank Pekao SA (PEO) advanced 2.1 percent to 131.9 zloty, extending yesterday’s 3.8 percent rally.

To contact the reporter on this story: Pawel Kozlowski in Warsaw pkozlowski@bloomberg.net

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