01 June 2004 05:52
Yukos loses over 10%
MOSCOW. June 1 (Interfax) - Yukos plunged over 10% Tuesday after Monday's court ruling invalidating a share
issue used in the failed Yukos/Sibneft merger.
On the MICEX, Yukos fell 9.6% to 202.6 rubles.
The S&P/RUX composite ruble index fell 3.78% to 682.96, and the
As of 2:00 p.m., Moscow time, on the RTS, Yukos was down 10.6% to $6.97, its level in February 2002. Other blue chips
were down 2% to 5% and Sibneft, which had climbed in the morning, was down 0.2%.
The RTS stock index dropped 3.12% to 562.92 points.
The MICEX composite fell 3.56% to 516.34.
Yukos saw its first wave of selling in the morning, after which
only win from the court decision. Gazprom added oil to the fire,
announcing its readiness to buy Yukos assets if they go up for sale,
index in dollars was off 3.83% to 140.36.
there was some stabilization, but when trading opened in London foreign investors start to sell and pushed the shares
down to under $7, said Yevgeny Volkov of MDM Bank.
"Demand for Sibneft also disappeared, although the company should
which canceled out any optimism among investors," he said.
"Those that held on to long positions on the Russian market, and not
only Yukos but other blue chips, are now forced to sell shares to
The court ruling leaves Yukos with no obstacles to a de-merger with Sibneft, but at present a deal seeing the return
of funds paid during the merger process is impossible because all Yukos assets, including Sibneft shares, have been
frozen, Bank of Moscow analysts said. Such a deal is the best outlook for Yukos because it would raise the necessary
funds to pay off debts to the government. However, it is not clear whether the government will give Yukos this
opportunity, they said.
On the RTS, prices were down 4.6% for Unified Energy System, 5% for
Norilsk Nickel, 3.9% for Lukoil, 3.1% for Mosenergo, 2.5% for
The drawn out divorce between the two oil giants has undermined hopes for Sibneft's quick sale to one of the
western holding companies, said Anatoly Kaplin of the Aton brokerage. "Canceling the Yukos share issue nears such
an event. Yukos may be able to improve its finances because Sibneft chief Roman Abramovich is trying to return a stake
sold for $3 billion in order to sell his company to foreign investors quickly," he said.
So far there is no optimism on European stock markets, and selling can only increase when trading opens in the United
States, Volkov said.
minimize losses. It is all pointing toward the 550 point mark on the RTS being beaten and the market may drop to
around 500 points. All the worst forecasts are beginning to be justified," he said.
Rostelecom, 3.5% for Sberbank, 3.6% for Surgutneftegas, and 3.2% for Tatneft.
Among the second-tier shares, prices fell 2.3% for CenterTelecom, 8.2% for Dalsvyaz, 2.7% for Uralsvyazinform, and
4.1% for Severstal.
Trading volume was at $15.207 million on the RTS (including $7.723 million in direct deals), and 8.3 billion rubles
on the MICEX.
Gazprom shares on the St. Petersburg were down 4.4% at 50.3 rubles in volume of over 13.279 million shares. [RU ASIA
EUROPE EEU EMRG STX MET CRU TEL ENR BNK INSI] me
[Interfax] |
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