Croatia - Factors To Watch on November 9

ZAGREB, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Following are the main news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Croatia's financial markets on Monday. ZAGREB - State Statistics Bureau releases September retail trade and October producer prices. PRESS DIGEST ------------ POLLS SAY JOSIPOVIC AND BANDIC IN THE LEAD According to a large poll recently conducted by the GfK polling agency, Ivo Josipovic, the candidate of Social Democrats, is currently on top for the upcoming presidential elections, with 17.1 percent of the vote. He is closely followed by Milan Bandic, mayor of Zagreb, who got 15.2 percent of votes. Jutarnji list, page 2 HPB POSTS 245.5 MILLION KUNA LOSS Hrvatska postanska banka (HPB), the largest state-owned bank, posted a 245.5 million kuna ($50.57 million) net loss in the first nine months of 2009.

Raiffeisen bank also posted their business results, which showed a 386 million kuna net profit in the same period, or down from 454 million in the same period the year before. Vecernji list, page 35 HRT ADVERTISING REVENUE DOWN 53 PCT IN H1 2009 According to data cited by a member of the board of the Croatian Radiotelevision (HRT), the state media company's advertising revenue fell by 53.3 percent in the first six months of 2009, when compared to the same period the year before, while HRT's market share fell to a mere 18 percent. Poslovni dnevnik, page 3 CROATIA RANKS 25TH IN PROMOTING INVESTMENTS According to a report by the World Bank, the Croatian agency for promoting investments and exports was placed 25th out of 185 similar institutions from around the world. Investments from abroad were worth some 3 billion euros ($4.49 billion) last year, although data shows that they fell to 913 million euros in H1 2009. The government said they expected some 2 billion kuna worth of investments in 2010, which will create some 3,000 jobs. Vjesnik, page 2 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it vouch for their accuracy. ------------------------------------------------------- For real-time Croatian index quotes, doubleclick on: Zagreb Stock Exchange index Zagreb Stock Exchange live trade Croatian Eurobonds Croatian local bonds Croatian Kuna/euro trade Other related news: Croatian equities Croatian money Croatia Indicators Croatia debt Emerging forex All emerging markets E.Europe equities Stock markets TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch ($1=4.855 Croatian Kuna) ($1=.6678 Euro) Keywords: CROATIA FACTORS/ (Zagreb Newsroom [phone], fax [phone]; [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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