A good day for Ukrainian stocks on Wednesday (May 22) got even better in late afternoon with the help of live remarks from US central banker Benjamin Bernanke. The Federal Reserve chief indicated that there is still no end in sight to his USD 85bn-per-month monetary stimulus program, eliciting a collective sigh of relief from equity investors around the world. The UX index spent the entire session firmly in positive territory and ended with a rise of 2.4% at 872 points. For the second time in three days, CentrEnergo led the rally, adding 3.7% to UAH 4.46, and steelmakers Alchevsk and Azovstal (AZST) were both up by 2.9%. Banks also got in on the action, with Raiffeisen Aval and UkrSots appreciating by 2.0% and 2.8% respectively, while volume leader Motor Sich picked up 1.8% on turnover of UAH 3.2mn. Outside the UX basket, Bogdan Motors slipped 2.1% to 5.09 kopecks. In London, JKX Oil & Gas fell 4.7% to GBp 56, while Kernel and KSG Agro were both down about 2% in Warsaw.
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