March 15 - President Putin announces that the market for Gazprom stock should be transparent. However, Gazprom stock did not go up.
March 16 - The Finance Ministry announces that it has completed part of the exchange of Soviet obligations for
                 Russian eurobonds.
                - The Board of Directors at the Urals Mining and Smelting Company (UGMK) resolved to issue an
                   additional 20 million rubles in shares.
                - Transneft made a recommendation to the Federal Tariff Service to increase export tariffs.
                 - The Moscow Baked Goods Company (MKKh) is the first contender for default, paying off 0.9 billion 
                   rubles in debt.
March 17 - Volga placed 1.5 billion rubles in three-year bonds on the MICEX.
                 - Rumors that George Soros would sell his stake in Svyazinvest provoked an increase in prices in the
                   telecom sector. Uralszyavinform shares grew by 5%, Sibirtelekom by 5%, and Tsentrtelekom by 4.7%.
                  - The Ministry of Finance placed two OFZ issues to the tune of 3.3 billion rubles.
                  - IzhAvto placed 1.2 billion rubles in bonds.

After the dollar fell by 6 kopecks at the beginning of last week, the situation on the currency market stabilized. Trading remained at 28.5-28.53 rubles to the dollar. For the week as a whole the ruble gained 4 kopecks. In addition to the influx of hard currency earnings and the temporary weakening of the dollar versus the euro on world markets, the high demand for rubles on the money market put pressure on the dollar. On Tuesday, correspondent accounts fell to 152 billion rubles and as the end of the month approaches this factor will likely have an increasing impact on the market.
On the market for federal ruble bonds, prices headed upwards. After two days of light trading without a clear trend, Wednesday saw confident growth supported by resources not involved in Ministry of Finance auctions, as well as by purchase orders from Russian and foreign investors. The leaders this week were long issues maturing in three years. Their yield fell by 0.3-0.6%.
Investor attention moved from the federal to the sub-federal and corporate market. After a brief intervention early in the week due to reduced funds in correspondent accounts, prices continued to rise. Second- and third-tier bonds outpaced others in terms of growth. While Alrosa and Gazprom yields fell by 0.2-0.3%, Mechel yield fell by 0.8%. Investors focused mostly on Moscow issues on the sub-federal bond segment. The yield on long-term Moscow bonds fell by 0.2-0.4%.
The market for Russian eurobonds saw an increase in volatility and in the spread between countries. For the week, the spread of the Russian segment grew from 265 to 271 points according to the EMBI+ Index. Early in the week, eurobonds followed American T-notes upwards. Later in the week, this growth was balanced out by a decline in prices. As a result, yields on Russian eurobonds maturing in 2030 remained practically unchanged for the week.
The stock market made impressive gains last week. The RTS Index grew by 5.8%, exceeding 700 points. Among the favorites were oil company stocks which grew following a significant increase in oil prices on the world market. Sibneft grew by 8.1% and Surgutneftegaz by 5%. By the end of the week, Sberbank also joined the ranks of the market leaders (+8.4%). Gazprom fared worst among the blue chips and its quotes remained practically unchanged despite the market’s growth.

The Financier’s Date Book

March 25   Vympelkom releases its results for 2003 in US GAAP
                   Zenit Bank places 1 billion rubles in bonds
                   Vneshtorgbank places 5 billion rubles in bonds
March 26    Baltika announces its results for the fourth quarter of 2003 in US GAAP
                   The RAO UES Board meets
March 28    Sibneft extraordinary stockholders meeting