08 June 2004 06:54
Speculators inspired to take RTS to 600
MOSCOW. June 8 (Interfax) - Inspired by a series of positive news, speculators decided to try and push the benchmark
RTS stock index up to 600 points through gains for most blue chips.
Yukos and 7.3% to $53 for Norilsk Nickel.
The RTS index climbed 1.7% to 586.08 points. Earlier in the day it
On the RTS, blue chips went up 0.6% to 4%. Yukos and Norilsk Nickel remained the market favorites with prices
climbing 4.5% to $8.2 for
Demand for Russian shares was backed by an announcement from
Standard & Poor's that Russia's credit rating could be upgraded to
topped 590 points.
investment grade before the end of the year thanks to progress in tax policy and foreign debt management.
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.
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 had a negative impact on the market
Tuesday morning.
The news pushed Unified Energy System shares down 4% on the MICEX, but the shares recovered later in the day and
closed with a gain.
The market saw its main wave of selling in the UES sector in the morning 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.
UES shares went up 1.5% to 27.7 cents on the RTS and were unchanged at 8.05 rubles on the MICEX.
Prices climbed 0.6% for Sberbank, 4% for Sibneft, 2.4% for Surgutneftegas, and 3.2% for Tatneft, but slid 0.7% for
Mosenergo and 0.7% for Lukoil.
Trading volume totaled $25.529 million on the RTS (including $9.439 million in direct deals), and over 19 billion
rubles on the MICEX.
Gazprom shares on the St. Petersburg were up 1% at 56.77 rubles in volume of over 21.642 million shares.
The S&P/RUX composite ruble index climbed 1.22% to 725.44, and the index in dollars added 1.33% to 148.91.
The MICEX composite rose 1.33% to 543.69. [RU ASIA EUROPE EEU EMRG STX MET ENR ELG TEL E BNK INSI] me
[Interfax] |
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