Markets Didn’t Vote for United Russia
The outcome of parliamentary elections in Russia has failed to inspire the local stock market. In the environment of predicted results, investors were mostly guided by the negative news from overseas. But the general political apathy of key players won’t last for long, the analysts speculate. It will end December 17, when United Russia names its presidential candidate.
The landslide victory of United Russia failed to bring momentum to the market yesterday. “The news that Vladimir Putin heads the federal slate of Untied Russia was positively viewed by the market, but it triggered its growth two months ago,” Alliance Continental General Director Alexei Chalenko explained the lack of positive response yesterday.
Contrary to rather predictable outcome of State Duma elections, the foreign market performance wasn’t missed by local traders. The losses suffered in the course of the U.S. trading drove down the markets worldwide. As a result, RTS closed 0.87 percent down at 2,200, MICEX fell 0.64 percent to 1,838.
Another reason of general indifference to domestic news is the greater significance of presidential elections vs. the elections to parliament. “Everyone understands that the Duma is controlled by the Kremlin, so it is more vital, who will be elected in March, as he will dictate further policy of the country’s development,” said a chief of a big capital company.
The next event that is bound to set the market into motion is nomination of United Russia’s presidential candidate. The party pledged to do it December 17. "If any of Vladimir Putin’s followers (Viktor Zubkov, Sergei Ivanov, Dmitry Medvedev) is nominated December 17, the market may respond positively to it,” forecasted Alfa Capital Managing Director Andrei Kilin.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 04, 2007
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