In intraday market updates, blue chips kicked off in the red.

On Thursday, liquid names opened lower by an average 1.5% on a retreat in US stock indexes, but in the first hour of trading most blue chips managed to recoup losses. As of 12:00 noon Moscow time UES and Norilsk Nickel were trading in positive territory, up 0.2%, while Lukoil (-1.4%) and MTS (-1.7%) underperformed the market. The RTS Index is hovering around 2,265, i.e. 0.7% below Wednesday’s close.

Sergey Belov, Asset Manager, Finam Investment Company