Analysts on outlooks for Russian stock market

Analysts with the Russian bank Zenit do not attribute yesterday's decline of the Russian stock market to YUKOS-related news arguing that investors have already adjusted to them. Moreover, among yesterday's news many were very favorable to Russian stocks. The first news that came up was the announcement of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi urging decisive steps to be taken to resolve the issue of Russia's accession to the WTO by the end of 2003. The second positive news was Interros and AIG signing a strategic partnership agreement envisaging the establishment of two investment funds to help businesses in Russia and the CIS. According to Zenit's analysts, yesterday's fall on the Russian stock market was due to the seasonal weakening of the market and profit-taking after sizeable gains of the first half of the year. Analysts believe that by the end of September, however, the market is likely to recover.