SERBIA:

MTLC: Metalac appointed new CEO, plans to achieve consolidated sales 16% higher vs. planned for 2021 and 20% higher net profit
At the proposition of the company's president, the Supervisory Board reached the decision to appoint Aleksandar Markovic as new director general of Metalac Gornji Milanovac (MTLC) on March 30. As the company announced, Markovic has 25 years of professional and managerial experience in various positions within Metalac, including 12 years in the position of the director of Metalac Posudje, from where he comes to the head of the company. A development strategy for Metalac a.d. and its subsidiaries has also been adopted. Taking 2018 as the basis, it is said, the consolidated operating income by the end of 2021 is planned to grow by 16%, the earnings are to grow by 5% each year, and the consolidated profit should amount to EUR 6.6 million, 20% more than is planned for 2018. In this period, Metalac will make project investments of EUR 10 million, and all other strategic aspects also lead to a sustainable growth and development of the company and, finally, to maintaining the excellent credit rating of Metalac Group – the press release says.
Source: Ekapija, KMBN

Air Serbia to launch service between Nis and Belgrade in 2018?
Air Serbia might launch a service from the Nis Constantine the Great Airport by the end of the year, Mihajlovic said for the Nis-based TV channel Belle Amie and added that the first air route of the national airline from this airport might be to Belgrade. Negotiations with Air Serbia have been going on for a while, and the airline is likely to launch a service from Nis this year – Mihajlovic stated. Guesting at another local TV station, Zona Plus, she said that there was a possibility for a Belgrade service to be established.
Source: Ekapija

Start date of construction of high speed railway from Novi Sad to Subotica to be known soon
The beginning of the excavation of a rail tunnel through Fruska Gora and the construction of a viaduct connecting Cortanovci and Sremski Karlovci is a continuation of the realization of the capital project of the construction of the high-speed Belgrade-Budapest railway. The negotiations with the construction companies about the section from Novi Sad to Subotica are expected to be finalized by the end of spring, after which the details of the beginning of the construction will be known, TV Subotica reports.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

SBITOP added 0.62%
Slovenian blue-chip index, SBITOP added 0.625 yesterday, reaching 824pts. The most traded name was oil&gas downstream company Petrol, since it delivered EUR 226ths in volume, while daily gainer was a pharmaceutical company Krka. Luka Koper was a daily looser, since it was down 0.33%.
Source: Ilirika

INO:

Stocks make a monster comeback, Dow rallies more than 700 points from lows of the day, Europe was down
After a wild session on Wednesday, stocks closed sharply higher as Wall Street erased massive losses earlier that came after China's announcement of new tariffs on U.S. goods sparked fears of a trade war. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 0.96% at 24,264.30, rallying 741 points from its session low. Microsoft and IBM were the best-performing stocks in the index. The S&P 500 erased a 1.6 percent decline to finish the session 1.2 percent higher at 2,644.69, led by gains in consumer stocks. The Nasdaq composite closed 1.5 percent higher at 7,042.11 after plunging as much as 1.9 percent.
Apple helped lead the comeback in the market, rising 1.9 percent. Chip stocks also rebounded, with Micron and Advanced Micro Devices climbing 3.6 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Automakers Ford and General Motors rose 1.6 percent and 3 percent, respectively, after falling sharply earlier on Wednesday. But Boeing — a company that can be adversely impacted by a trade war — closed 1 percent lower. Deere also pulled back 2.9 percent.
In economic news, the ADP National Employment Report showed private companies added 241,000 jobs in March, more than the expected gain of 205,000.
European markets closed lower Wednesday, amid elevated concerns of a tit-for-tat trade war between the world's biggest economies. The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.47 percent lower provisionally, with almost all sectors and major bourses in negative territory.
From the corporate side, Swiss Re said Wednesday that talks with SoftBank over a minority stake of no more than 10 percent in the reinsurance giant were continuing "at an early stage," according to a Reuters report. Shares of Swiss Re were more than 3.8 percent lower on the news.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika