Russian benchmarks ended Wednesday in negative territory, with the MICEX Index easing 0.7% and the RTS Index ticking down 0.1%. An upturn at the open reversed into a pullback as investors opted to take profit from Sberbank and O&G stocks.
O&G equities largely underperformed the market, as Lukoil dropped 1.7%, Gazprom and Rosneft eased 1%. Gazprom Neft, off 3.3%, emerged among the day’s standout losers as its 4Q 2009 financials, released on Wednesday, disappointed investors. In the banking sector, Sberbank took the sharpest dip (down 2.5%), whereas Bank VTB fared slightly better (off 0.8%). As for metals, metal stocks looked mixed, with NLMK falling 2.1%, Belon giving up 1.5%, Norilsk Nickel advancing 0.7% and Polymetal adding 2.6%.
US indices moved higher on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 Index closing 0.5% higher. Financials outperformed, while telecoms lagged behind the market. Bullish sentiment prevails in Asian trading this morning, with some benchmarks up over 1%. Among commodities, Brent futures are still hovering around USD 80/bbl, while prices of primary metal groups are mostly in decline.
According to our estimates, Thursday morning's news flow is unfavorable for Russian stocks and we do not rule out seeing liquid names heading further south at the open. As for market moving data, US initial claims are due out in the second half of today’s session.
