03 June 2004 02:48
Morning gains come to a stop by midday
MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - Thursday morning gains came to a stop by midday as the market tries to determine which
way to move next.
As of 2:00 p.m., Moscow time, on the RTS, blue chips were up 0.6% to 2.2%. Yukos, which formerly led the market down,
posted a higher gain of 4.8% to $7.6.
The market began to correct up on Wednesday after plunging, but the correction gradually faded out on Thursday,
especially due to a slide on Wall Street and decline for oil prices, traders said.
The market lacks Wednesday's optimism, although speculators have plenty of ruble supply again, said Alexei
Nikogosov of Veles Capital. "There is no foreign support for Russian shares. The news backdrop is relatively
neutral and the market reacted sluggishly to news that Tax Ministry and Interior Ministry representatives had seized
documents at two Yukos offices," he said.
be upped in the future. If the Fed is going to up [interest rates] at
each session, a negative impact on the stock market will not be far
"OPEC's expected decision to raise oil output quotas 11% a day, which according to forecasts should lower
prices by $6 to $8 per barrel, is also so far having little impact on the market. In any case, the oil price level
written into the Russian budget will be lower than it is now -there is a crude surplus on the market," he said.
The market is trying to stabilize at current levels, but there are no assurances that the decline has stopped, Ivan
Dorofeev of Olimpiyskiy bank said. "U.S. unemployment figures will be published this week and may have an impact on
the American market and our market and on the Federal Reserve's decision about interest rates, which is expected at
the end of June. However, it seems investors are ready for rates to go up and this event is already reflected in
prices," he said.
Interest rates are likely to be raised by a quarter or half a percent, Nikogosov said. "The main thing is how
aggressively will rates
behind," he said.
"It looks like we have not seen rock bottom just yet and there is a great likelihood that shares will fall in
the near future and support levels will be at 550, 535 and 500 on the RTS index," he said.
On the RTS, prices were up 0.6% for Unified Energy System, 1.2% for Norilsk Nickel, 0.9% for Lukoil, 2.2% for
Mosenergo, 1.6% for Sibneft, and 1.8% for Sberbank, but down 0.2% for Rostelecom, 0.5% for Surgutneftegas, and 1.6% for
Tatneft.
Trading volume was at $7.006 million on the RTS (including $4.008 million in direct deals), and 6.75 billion rubles
on the MICEX.
The RTS stock index went up 1.13% to 574.60 points.
The MICEX composite edged up 0.02% to 533.98.
Gazprom shares on the St. Petersburg were down 0.7% at 55.32 rubles in volume of over 8.691 million shares.
"Trading with Gazprom shares has considerably increased over the past few days and the shares are showing high
volatility," Nikogosov said. "It looks like the concern's shares are the only ones left where investors
prefer not to open short positions, but instead to actually buy," he added.
The S&P/RUX composite ruble index rose 0.84% to 711.23, and the index in dollars added 0.68% to 145.91.
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