Locally-listed Ukrainian blue chips were mixed on Friday (Jan 31),
with the Kyiv equity benchmark finishing lower by some 2.5% for the first month
of 2014 amid the major domestic political upheaval of the past two weeks. The
S&P 500 also ended down by around 5% for the month, as emerging market
worries and the enormous rise of 2013 took their toll. For the session, the UX
index inched up by 0.2% to close at 889 points. UkrNafta (UNAF) was on the move
again, leading on volume with UAH 1.7mn in trades and adding 2.7%. Raiffeisen
Aval (BAVL) and DonbasEnergo (DOEN) picked up 1.8% and 1.1% respectively, while
on the downside, CentrEnergo (CEEN) and Azovstal (AZST) both slipped by half a
percent and heavyweight Motor Sich (MSICH) dropped 1.0% to UAH 1730. The two
most actively traded Ukrainian issues in London, Ferrexpo (FXPO) and MHP (MHPC),
continued to search for a bottom amid the spike in country risk, selling off by
around 3% each, while beaten-down Regal Petroleum (RPT) ended higher by 2.0% at
GBp 12.75.
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