PRAGUE -- Pessimistic market sentiment swept across most East European bourses this week as Czech shares fell to record lows while the Warsaw stock exchange also flirted with its all-time low.


Share prices fell in Prague, Warsaw, Budapest and Ljubljana, and held steady in Sofia, while Slovak shares bucked the trend and edged slightly higher in Bratislava.


In Prague, bad news turned to worse for Czech shares as the bourse's early January slump gathered pace with the PX50 index setting three straight record lows.


The index, which has lost ground for 13 consecutive sessions, closed on Thursday at a new all-time low of 522.7, off 25.2 points from Monday's opening.


Dealers said some domestic market makers were playing upon prevailing pessimistic market sentiment to arbitrage by driving prices down and then covering their positions by buying at favorable prices on the over-the-counter exchange.


"The domestic market participants are flooding the exchange with liquidity, driving down prices because they want to buy into some cheap stocks taken out of weak hands," said Jay King of Wood and Co.


In addition, analysts said the recent crisis in Mexico had had a chilling effect on all of East Europe's bourses, with many emerging-market institutional investors remaining on the sidelines as they regroup after suffering heavy losses.


Polish shares lost 9 percent in lighter trading over the week ending Thursday, as the all-share WIG index lost 609.4 points to close at 6,754.4, just above its 52-week low of 6,716.2.


A brief round of speculative buying Tuesday stirred hopes for a technical rally, but sentiment sagged mid-week as most stocks failed to recover lost ground. After a moderate rise Monday, Hungarian shares, led by the country's largest retailer, Fotex Rt, fell on the Budapest Stock Exchange as traders said investors adopted a wait-and-see attitude.


The BUX index closed at 1,271.10 points on Thursday, down 49.27 points from the week's opening level of 1,320.37.