Putin`s reassurance sparks Moscow surge EMERGING MARKETS:
ByLine: By PAIVI MUNTER
Russian shares soared yesterday after a statement by President Vladimir Putin
eased bankruptcy fears surrounding Yukos, the country's biggest oil
producer.
The RTS1 index soared 10.1 per cent to 587.1, the biggest one-day gain for
the Russian market in 4 1/2 years. The index was helped by a 34.2 per cent
surge in Yukos to Dollars 8.32, the biggest single-session rise in the stock
in more than four years.
A frenzy of short-covering in Yukos erupted after Mr Putin said the
government would do its best to avoid bankruptcy at the oil company, which is
facing Dollars 3.4bn in back tax claims.
"Russian authorities, the government and economic authorities are not
interested in the bankruptcy of such a company as Yukos . . . " Mr Putin
said. "The government will do its best to prevent the collapse of the
company."
Anton Khmelnitski at Brunswick Asset Management in Moscow, said: "This
is an enormous relief."
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the principal owner of Yukos, is being tried on
separate charges of fraud and tax evasion in a high-profile case thought to
stem from a political battle between the oligarch and the government. It has
attracted international attention, raising questions about property rights in
Russia, where tax evasion and murky business practices were commonplace
during the 1990s.
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