Ukrainian
equities were in the red across the board on Monday (Apr 7) after the weekend’s
escalation of tensions in Eastern Ukraine that saw pro-Russian activists take
over the provincial administration building in Donetsk and demand a secession
referendum similar to the one held in Crimea last month. Investors used the
situation as a justification to take profits in German stocks, with the DAX
sliding by 1.9% after two weeks of solid gains. US bourses were also lower,
driven by a selloff in tech names that resulted in the Nasdaq-100’s biggest
3-day drop since the start of the quantitative easing rally back in November
2011. The UX index ended down 2.4% at 1056 points. Alchevsk Steel and Yenakievo
Steel, located near the heart of the unrest in Lugansk and Donetsk oblasts
respectively, most more than 4% each with the former ending at 3.55 kopecks,
while volume leader CentrEnergo was down 3.0% on turnover of UAH 3.4mn. In
London, Ferrexpo posted its first substantial decline in more than two weeks,
dropping 3.9% on country risk concerns, and Kernel and Astarta each lost about
5% in Warsaw for similar reasons.
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