The UX index, Ukraine’s main equity benchmark, opened 2021 with a decline of 2.5% to finish the holiday-shortened first trading week of the year at 1576 points. The latest National Bank business sentiment survey showed that the country’s entrepreneurs are quite pessimistic regarding the pace of economic recovery in 2021.
Among the UX basket components, UkrNafta (UNAF) slipped 1.6% to UAH 187 per share after newly appointed acting Energy Minister Yuriy Vitrenko announced his intention to transfer the government’s controlling stake in UkrNafta from state-owned NaftoGaz to the Energy Ministry. The news raised uncertainty regarding the possibility of splitting UkrNafta into separate oil and natural gas business divisions.
CentrEnergo (CEEN) edged up by 0.5% to UAH 7.50 after the government confirmed a strategy to create a new integrated entity based on the assets of CentrEnergo and state-owned coal mines. The goal is to improve CentrEnergo’s profitability by providing the company with a reliable and transparent coal supplies. Raiffeisen Bank Aval (BAVL) and TurboAtom (TATM) were unchanged at 41 kopecks and UAH 8.30 per share respectively.
In London, iron ore producer Ferrexpo (FXPO) rocketed higher by almost 20% last week to reach GBp 350. The company announced a special interim dividend of 13 US cents per share to be paid out on Jan 28 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on Jan 15. MHP (MHPC) advanced by 5.7% to USD 6.28.
On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Kernel (KER) rose 1.7% to PLN 49.20. It seems that the PLN 50 line will again act as a strong resistance level for the KER stock. Meanwhile, less liquid agro name Astarta (AST) jumped by 17% to PLN 29.70.
The hryvnia had an uneventful trading week, remaining virtually unchanged at 28.26 UAH/USD. The National Bank report that the country’s foreign currency reserves grew by USD 3.0bn in December to USD 29.1bn was clearly positive news.
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