Daily Review. 11th November, 2009

Domestic equities opened on a mixed note Tuesday, but near mid-session stocks got back on the growth track, with the RTS Index adding 2.08% and the MICEX Index advancing 1.39%.

O&G names rebounded on rising oil prices, as Gazprom grew 0.8%, Rosneft added 2.4% and Lukoil inched up 0.2%. In the financial segment, Bank VTB saw robust demand, up 3.8%, while Sberbank ended 0.9% higher. Steels followed the market, with MMK advancing 1.1%, NLMK jumping 2.2% and Severstal edging up 0.9%.

US benchmarks showed mixed performance on Tuesday. Most negativity came from lackluster earnings reports released by a number of large US corporations. Asian indices are mostly higher this morning on positive macroeconomic data, as retail sales and manufacturing numbers in China cheered investors. Against this backdrop, oil prices are back on the rise, additionally buoyed by a weaker dollar.

We believe Wednesday morning's news flow is to a large extent upbeat for the Russian stock market. If crude continues to climb, this will shore up O&G plays. And with gold prices heading higher, gold miners look set to outperform today.