26 April 2004 08:02
Yukos stock drops 10% on possible credit default news
MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - Stock in oil major Yukos plunged more than 10% on the MICEX after Monday's close
on reports that the company had been informed by banks involved in a syndicated pre-export credit of $1 billion of a
Potential Event of Default.
The main reason behind this notification was primarily the Tax Ministry claim for 99,375,538,234 rubles filed against
Yukos on April 14, 2004 and the order granted by the Moscow Arbitration Court dated April 15, 2004, prohibiting Yukos
from disposing of or encumbering its assets.
The stock closed down at 320 rubles per share (from 357 rubles) on the MICEX, 10.4% lower than last Friday's
close level. Yukos shares cost $12.25 per (+0.3%) at the moment of closing on the RTS.
The rest of the market ended Monday in the plus column, with blue chip quotations up 1%-3.5% and the leader being
Sibneft-up 5.1% to $3.31 per share.
the market could best be described by the phrase 'nothing is
happening.'" "Ahead of the long May holidays a week from now, no one
Interest in Sibneft stock increased noticeably amid reports of the company's sale of 25% of the stock in French
company Total and subsequent official announcements by Sibneft in which talk of a new major shareholder was dismissed as
rumor.
In general, the Russian stock market is trying to correct upwards after sliding the past two weeks.
Head of the MDM Bank investment department's international stock market sales section Anatoly Tsoir said that
"the current situation on
wants to take any risks, neither selling paper nor buying. The sales we saw during the previous two weeks are the
consequence of capital outflow from all markets in the emerging markets category due to expectations of rate hikes in
the United States," Tsoir told Interfax.
"Since the Russian market has shown very good growth since the start of the year, it should suffer more among
the emerging markets, as investors will be selling Russian assets more aggressively," he added. Investment group
Kapital analyst Andrei Rozhkov said, "The sharp market drop of the last two weeks made company paper over-sold in
the short- term, and this could attract the interest of investors that have been biding their time." Thanks to buys
by this group of investors, stocks most down in price have the potential for some growth, and the RTS index could end up
at 705 points, he said.
Chief of the analytical department at Brokerkreditservis Maxim Shein noted that the growth posted by most liquid
stocks on Monday was at a low level, so the bears can suppress the market by as early as Tuesday. "After nine days
of slippage, it is not probable to imagine that investors will immediately start buying at a good level. In any event,
the lack of demand on the 'second-tier' is evidence that the wait-and-see position is now the most sensible
one," he said. Bank of Moscow analyst Kirill Tremasov noted that the determining factor for the market remains
exchange rate dynamics. "Those concerns associated with the possibility of ruble weakening prompted a sharp
deployment of 'hot' money on Russian financial markets in April. It appears that as long as the currency
market remains unstable Russian stocks and bonds will remain under pressure. Stability on currency markets now mainly
depends on the position taken by the Federal Reserve in the United States relative to interest rates, because attention
has to be paid this week to macro-statistics in the U.S. [especially important will be Thursday's GDP report and
Wednesday's consumer mood data], which are capable of significant influence on market mood and the dollar exchange
rate," Tremasov said. Tsoir said the last week in April could pass fairly calmly for the market, with no strong
price fluctuation and most likely dominated by an upbeat mood sparked by recent news like that of progress in the
reformation of the holding RAO UES of Russia." "But this correction up is mostly technical, really a
consequence of increasing demand," he said. "The May holidays are drawing near, during which time a number of
companies close their stockholder registers ahead of annual meetings, so one might expect somewhat revitalized demand by
the end of the week," Shein said. By closing time on the RTS, stock in Unified Energy System of Russia was up 2.8%,
that in MMC Norilsk Nickel 3.5%, Lukoil 3%, Tatneft 1.1%, Surgutneftegas 3.3%, Rostelecom 1.8% and Sberbank of Russia
1%. Aggregate trading on the classic RTS stock market came to $21.811 million for the day, $12.315 million of that in
direct-bid deals, while turnover on the MICEX reached 17.207 billion rubles. Trading in Gazprom stock in St. Petersburg
was bullish, with shares changing hands at 59.8 rubles per (up 0.5%) by mid-session and involving 25.136 million shares
all told. The composite S&P/RUX ruble index rose 1.5% to 830.33 points, the dollar index 1.55% to 170.84 points. The
RTS index was up 0.99% at 686.29 points, while the MICEX stock index slipped 0.32% to 599.84 points. [RU EUROPE EEU ASIA
EMRG STX MET ENR ELG TEL E BNK INSI] cf
[Interfax] |
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