08 June 2004 03:18
RTS index climbs to over 585 points
MOSCOW. June 8 (Interfax) - Russia's stock market climbed to over 585 points on the RTS index Tuesday as most
blue chips saw gains amid growth on international stock markets and for Russian ADR in the west.
As of 2:00 p.m., Moscow time, on the RTS, blue chips were up 0.5% to 3.8% and the RTS stock index had increased 1.61%
to 585.54 points, its level at the end of May.
On the MICEX, UES shares fell 1.7% to 7.924 rubles a share.
The market saw a wave of selling in the UES sector in the morning
There were some exceptions with prices down 0.7% for Lukoil, 0.7% for Rostelecom and 0.7% for Unified Energy System
(to 27.1 cents). UES shares fell after news that Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov did not support the idea of selling
wholesale generating companies (gencos) at special cash auctions, or the merger of four hydropower gencos into one
company.
on the MICEX, before the RTS had opened, said Antanta Capital trader Alexander Pankov. "The negative reaction on
the market was short and in the afternoon the shares began to recover as speculators found the shares to be strongly
oversold. The market is nervous in the UES sector, but it is still early to talk about any serious changes in the energy
reform process - all decisions are dragging out and could change more than once," he said.
The prime minister's decision may again push back energy reforms and this will have a negative impact on UES
shares, said Anatoly Kaplin of the Aton brokerage. Banks are continuing to reduce limits on each other due to growing
mutual mistrust and this is pushing up interbank loan market rates (rates topped 20% on Tuesday), which is weakening
demand for Russian shares, he added.
Despite a confidence crisis in the banking sector, there is money on the market, Alexei Khmelenko of Uniastrum bank
said. "Interbank loan market rates were high for major banks at around 17%-20% on Tuesday, but the situation is far
from falling into panic, I think the situation will normalize over the week and then upward play may strengthen,"
he said.
Buyers are not meeting any serious resistance so market growth is so far being achieved without corrections, he
added.
Moscow's Meschansky Court on Tuesday decided to combine the cases against former Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky
and Menatep chief Platon Lebedev and set the hearing for June 16. The market did not really show any reaction to the
news as Yukos shares are affected more by Yukos tax hearings.
The Moody's agency provided some support for Yukos when it said the Yukos affair is not a determining factor for
Russia's sovereign rating and that Yukos itself has sufficient funds to clear tax claims, analysts at Zenit bank
said.
On the RTS, Yukos rose 1.9% to $8. Prices were also up 3.2% for Norilsk Nickel, 0.5% for Mosenergo, 0.9% for
Sberbank, 3.8% for Sibneft, 2.7% for Surgutneftegas, and 2.4% for Tatneft.
Trading volume was at $10.923 million on the RTS (including $3.649 million in direct deals), and 8.56 billion rubles
on the MICEX.
Gazprom shares on the St. Petersburg were up 1.1% at 56.81 rubles in volume of over 10.908 million shares.
The S&P/RUX composite ruble index climbed 1.57% to 727.94, and the index in dollars added 1.68% to 149.43.
The MICEX composite rose 0.16% to 537.39. [RU ASIA EUROPE EEU EMRG STX MET ENR ELG TEL E BNK INSI] me
[Interfax] |
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