OREANDA-NEWS. January 5, 2010. For the week of December 21 - December 25, 2009 the Russian stock market experienced an upturn of prices.

The RTS Index (RTSI) went up to 1,450.25 points (2.84%) from 1,410.22 points as of December 18, 2009. At the end of the week the RTS Index was 1.59% higher than a month ago (1,427.55 points as of November 25, 2009) and 121.11% higher than a year ago (655.91 points as of December 25, 2008).

Over the week the US dollar lost 1.68% against the Russian ruble.

Out of 50 RTSI constituents 29 were pushing the Index up (plus 43.00 points overall), 11 securities moved negatively (minus 2.97 points overall). The price for 10 securities remained unchanged.

The positive effect leaders were ordinary shares of Gazprom (plus 8.80 points), OAO "LUKOIL" (plus 8.50 points) and Sberbank (plus 7.30 points).

The negative impact was mainly coming from the falling prices for ordinary shares of "FGC UES", JSC (minus 0.55 points).

Over 50% of the RTSI total capitalization continued to be concentrated in the oil and gas sector. The other large-weight sectors were finance (19.65%) and metallurgy (14.42%).

On the sector level the major positive contributors were the oil & gas sector (plus 22.01 points in total) followed by the banks & finance sector (plus 8.71 points overall) and the metals & mining sector (plus 4.40 points in total).

RTSI Futures Contracts

The weekly trading volume in the RTSI derivatives amounted to 163.3 billion rubles or 1.87 million contracts. Futures contracts on the RTS Index remained the most liquid instrument on the Russian derivatives market, making up 69.18% of the total FORTS turnover (Futures and Options on RTS) in cash terms.

With the RTSI gaining 2.84%, March contracts (RTS-03.10) and June contracts (06.10) climbed 2.31% and 2.01% respectively.

During the reviewed period RTSI linked futures were mainly trading above the spot. By the end of the week March contracts were 3.54 points in contango, and June contracts were 1.76 points in backwardation.

For the week investor's open interest measured in contracts decreased by 9.02%.

Second-tier stocks

For the week of December 21 - December 25, 2009 the second tier stocks market demonstrated a positive trend.

Over the reviewed period the RTS-2 Index added 2.26% to reach 1,427.3 points (1,395.8 points as of December 18, 2009). At the end of the week the RTS-2 Index was 3.90% higher than a month ago (1,373.8 points as of November 25, 2009), and 154.37% higher than a year ago (561.11 points as of December 25, 2008).

30 constituents out of 70 stocks on the basis of which the RTS-2 Index is calculated had a positive impact on the RTS-2 Index (plus 46.03 points overall), 15 instruments moved negatively (minus 14.52 points). The price for 25 securities remained unchanged.

Most of the positive effect was related to the growing prices for ordinary shares of OJSC "Magnit" (plus 7.62 points), PJSC "NCSP" (plus 5.35 points) and OJSC N. W. Telecom (plus 4.19 points).

The negative impact was mainly due to the falling prices for ordinary shares of JSC "INTER RAO UES" (minus 4.40 points).

In terms of weight in the RTS-2 Index, the power sector was the largest (26.4%), followed by the consumer goods & trading sector (16.9%) and the telecom sector (15.5%).

Most of the RTS-2 Index growth was due to the positive contributions by the securities of the following sectors: telecom (plus 21.27 points in total) followed by consumer & retail (plus 8.37 points overall) and water transportation (plus 5.71 points in total).

The RTS family of indices

Index

Last Value

Change over (Period), %

 1

Week

Month

Quarter

Year

RTS Index

1450,25

2,84%

1,59%

18,36%

121,11%

RTS-2 Index

1427,32

2,26%

3,90%

20,08%

154,37%

RTS Oil & Gas Index

186,89

2,85%

-0,53%

11,78%

86,83%

RTS Consumer & Retail Index

244,29

2,16%

3,01%

13,57%

212,43%

RTS Metals & Mining Index

230,35

1,60%

-1,69%

16,79%

148,30%

RTS Industrial Index

134,23

-2,44%

-7,27%

5,44%

117,34%

RTS Electric Utilities Index

207,61

1,15%

-3,98%

13,24%

123,45%

RTS Telecom Index

189,42

6,90%

9,72%

22,31%

116,31%

RTS Finances Index

372,1

1,79%

1,98%

19,58%

127,20%

Last week most of the key economy sectors represented on the Russian stock market demonstrated positive dynamics.

The US dollar depreciated by 1.68% against the Russian ruble to reach 29.93 rubles per US dollar (30.44 rubles as of December 18, 2009).

The largest growth was shown by the telecom sector. The RTS Telecom Index gained 6.90%. A significant increase was also demonstrated by the oil & gas and consumer & retail sectors, with the RTS Oil & Gas Index adding 2.85% and the RTS Consumer & Retail Index climbing 2.16%.

A decline was reported by the industrial sector, with the RTS Industrial Index losing 2.44%.