The Russian markets may not be out of the woods yet, but there are at least signs of the green shoots of recovery. The Russian RTS and MICEX indices have shown a stable rise this week.
Florists have come up with a new bouquet to cash in on the fall on the Russian stock exchanges, the RTS and the MICEX. It’s called ‘Everything will be all right’ and it’s getting more and more popular. “We want to support those who are suffering from the financial crisis and help them to be optimistic about the future of the Russian stock exchanges,” says Elena Demina, a florist.ru representative. The real picture has also been positive on the Russian stock markets. The dollar-dominated RTS index has gained 46 per cent this week. RT's business analyst Mark Gay's says the government's help has finally reached the target. “In Russia we saw the first concrete sign of the government feeding the money out into the stock market. There were some very sharp rises in particular shares. But that really did improve the sentiment. The government is not just talking about aid. We've now seen this money come through,” he said. In the new budget approved by the lower house of the Russian parliament for the next three years, the State Duma authorised the government to spend $US 6.7 billion to help the country's financial system. There are traders who trust the strength of the Russian economy and the government’s ways of dealing with the crisis. “The Russian Federation is well prepared for such a crisis. We have stabilisation funds. We have a lot of gold and exchange currency reserves and so on,” said Evgeny Smolnikov from Zurich Capital Management.