Analysts recap situation on MICEX - 29 September, 2003

Although MICEX stock traders attempted to erase Thursday's losses in early trade on Friday, in the afternoon sellers were in the ascendant. The MICEX index closed at 502.62 points, down 0.24 percent. Prices for most blue chips fluctuated with no solid tendency. YUKOS dropped 2.33 percent, RAO UES slipped 0.08 percent, Norilsk Nickel edged down 0.14 percent and Sberbank eased back 0.05 percent. Meanwhile, LUKoil grew 0.54 percent, Surgutneftegas 0.39 percent and Rostelecom 0.51 percent. The total volume of trade amounted to about RUR7.5bn ($245m), down 30 percent against the average daily trading volume for the previous week.

Analysts believe the continuing strain on ruble liquidity will limit the potential of the Russian stock market's growth today.