Market buzz: Russian stocks attempting to recoup losses
A mixed international outlook will likely mean a weak – but positive – start to Thursday’s session on Russian floors.
On Wednesday, March 13, Russian markets closed in the red: The
MICEX dropped by 0.36% and the RTS lost over 0.74%. Polyus Gold,
pharmaceutical chain 36.6, MRSK Center and Volga Region, Inter RAO
UES and E.ON Russia saw gains despite the overall decline; Norilsk
Nickel, Irkutskenergo and RAO ES of the East saw the biggest
losses.
Asian floors started Thursday’s session mixed: The Nikkei has grown
by 0.26%, the Shanghai Composite adding 0.09%, the Hang Seng lost
0.66% and the KOSPI is down 1.2%.
The mixed trading is driven mostly by China, as investors are wary
of the country’s economy. However, indices have also been boosted
by optimistic macroeconomic news from the US and an expected drop
in unemployment, due to be announced today.
European floors closed Wednesday’s session mixed. The FTSE100
dropped by 0.45%, as investors saw EU austerity measures as harming
economic growth while doing little to fight budget deficits. Other
European indices showed little change; the German DAX demonstrated
symbolic growth of 0.06%,and the CAC40 dropped a slight 0.1%.
Today’s EU summit in Brussels between the newly elected Cypriot
president and leaders of EU nations may bring important news: EU
leaders could ease austerity measures within the eurozone, and
grant extra time to states like France, Spain and Portugal to slash
their budget deficits. Other news expected on Thursday includes the
release of unemployment data from Greece and the EU for Q4 2012; no
significant changes are expected.
US stocks closed in positive territory on optimistic news including
a growth in retail sales and US Business Inventories. The Fedral
budget deficit was also slightly lower than expected – $204 billion
against the $205 billion predicted earlier. Higher gas prices and a
slowly improving labor market are likely to be key factors in
Thursday trading. Today, the US will release a weekly update on the
number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, as well as
February wholesale prices.
Oil prices continue to see minor declines, partly due to the growth
of US oil reserves announced the day before: Brent has lost 0.17%
and WTI is down by 0.24%.
Russian stocks are also awaiting the release of RusHydro figures
for 2012, according to RAS.
