Strategic Mosenergo Buyer Lifts RTS
Combined Reports A strategic buyer in Moscow power monopoly Mosenergo drove the stock to a three-year high on Friday, which together with fresh purchases of oil stocks pushed the main index higher, traders said.
The benchmark Russian Trading System index gained 2.4 percent to close at 430.4. Trade volume was thin at $23.3 million.
Mosenergo rose 11.3 percent to 5.82 cents. On the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, it traded 12.6 percent higher at 1.82 rubles.
"There is serious buying [in Mosenergo], serious volumes are being traded," said a Western bank trader. "Yesterday there was a large Western sale, which was easily absorbed."
At the start of the year, active buying in Mosenergo led traders to say that someone was trying to accumulate enough shares to install a representative on the board of the company, which was due to be restructured in an overhaul of the entire sector.
Mosenergo later said investment bank Renaissance Capital had proposed seven of its representatives to the board.
"It looks like those who were buying before the register closed [on April 11] decided to buy for the next year," said Prospect trader Igor Losavio.
"On top of that, the paper was so much oversold even before the register closing date, that even a small buy order leads to problems in closing short positions," he added.
Surgutneftegaz, the leading gainer in previous weeks, rose more than 9 percent to 48.1 cents.
Traders saw renewed buying from both the company's management, which is trying to fend off a hostile takeover, and from a strategic buyer.
"Although Surgut was falling in the last two days, management is still bidding," a Troika Dialog trader said.
Yukos, which last week announced the acquisition of Sibneft, was virtually unchanged, while Sibneft rose nearly 2 percent |
