Russian stock market unlikely to grow

According to Andrey Rozhkov, an analyst with the Capital investment group, investors are likely to be pessimistic this week. The RTS index may drop below 550 points by the end of the week, he believes. Negative news about YUKOS is likely to appear on the market and it will affect not only YUKOS shares but also the whole market, the analyst said.

Today's trade is expected not to have a solid tendency within the framework of a sideways trend, an analyst with the OLMA investment fund believes. According to the expert, the news background is relatively positive because American indices decreased considerably yesterday.

Commenting on the situation around YUKOS, the analyst supposed that the proposal to settle tax claims by means of an additional issuing of shares, which can be either sold for cash or passed to the government, made by the company's management to the Russian government may be regarded as positive news for YUKOS.

YUKOS stocks have lost 14.29 percent on the RTS exchange. Most securities are also in the red. LUKoil shares have stepped back almost 4 percent. Norilsk Nickel has fallen 3 percent. RAO UES securities are slightly lower than the level of closing on the previous business day. The RTS index decreased 3.12 percent to 549.13 points at 1 p.m. Moscow time. YUKOS has dropped more than 11 percent on the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange, while other blue chips have retreated some 2.5 to 3 percent.