OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 July 2009 was announced, that for the week of July 20 – July 24, 2009 the Russian stock market experienced an upturn in prices. The RTS Index (RTSI) went up to 1,012.62 points (9.47%) from 925.00 points as of July 17, 2009. By the end of the week the RTS Index was 5.57% higher than a month ago (959.18 points as of June 24, 2009) and 51.0% lower than a year ago (2066.7 points as of July 24, 2008).

Over the week the Russian rouble gained 1.92% against the US dollar. Out of 50 RTSI constituents 38 were pushing the Index upwards (plus 87.69 points overall), however, 2 securities behaved negatively (minus 0.064 points overall). The price for 10 securities remained unchanged. Most of the positive impact was coming from the growing prices for Sberbank ordinary shares (plus 14.02 points), Gazprom ordinary shares (plus 13.28 points) and ordinary shares of "LUKOIL" (plus 12.77 points).

Most of the negative impact was related to the falling prices for ordinary shares of WBD Foods (minus 0.038 points).

Over 55% of the RTSI total capitalization continued to be concentrated in the oil and gas sector. The other large-weight sectors were finance (15.97%) and metallurgy (10.91%).

On the sector level the major positive contributors were the oil and gas sector (plus 52.85 points overall), the banks & finance sector (plus 16.51 points overall) and the metals & mining sector (plus 9.04 points).

RTSI Futures Contracts

The weekly trading volume in the RTSI derivatives amounted to 186.4 billion roubles or 3.07 million contracts. Futures contracts on the RTS Index remained the most liquid instrument on the Russian derivatives market, making up 68.03% of the total FORTS turnover (Futures and Options on RTS) in cash terms.

With the RTSI gaining 9.47%, September contracts (RTS-09.09) and December contracts (RTS-12.09) went up by 11.04% and 9.79% respectively. By the end of the week September contracts shifted from backwardation and closed 2.24 points above the RTSI. December contracts closed 10.64 points in contango.

Throughout the week investor’s open interest was mainly concentrated on September contracts. The total number of open positions measured in contracts decreased by 6.71%.

Second-tier stocks

For the week of July 20 – July 24, 2009 the second tier stocks market demonstrated a positive trend. Over the reviewed period the RTS-2 Index went up by 6.55% to 865.65 points (812.47 points as of July 17, 2009). At the end of the week the RTS-2 Index was 0.22% higher than a month ago (863.74 points as of June 24, 2009), and 63.03% lower than a year ago (2341.5 points as of July 24, 2008). 42 constituents out of 72 stocks on the basis of which the RTS-2 Index is calculated were pushing the Index upwards (plus 53.98 points overall).

However, 4 instruments behaved negatively (minus 0.80 points). The price for 26 securities remained unchanged. Most of the positive impact was related to the growing prices for ordinary shares of OJSC "Magnit" (plus 7.23 points), OAO Raspadskaya (plus 6.77 points) and JSC "OGK-4" (plus 4.02 points).

The negative push was mainly related to privileged shares of Bashneft (minus 0.28 points).

In terms of weight in the RTS-2 Index, the power sector was the largest (24.5%), followed by the consumer goods & trading sector (15.9%) and the metals & mining sector (13.1%).

Most of the RTS-2 Index growth was due to the positive contributions by the securities of the following sectors: power (plus 16.0 points in total), consumer goods & trading (plus 9.75 points in total) and metals & mining (plus 9.27 points overall).

The RTS family of indices

Last week all the key economy sectors represented on the Russian stock market demonstrated positive dynamics. The US dollar lost 1.92% against the Russian rouble to 31.08 roubles per US dollar. The oil & gas sector experienced the largest growth. The RTS Index – Oil & Gas went up by 9.92%. A significant increase was demonstrated by the metals & mining sector and the power sector, with the corresponding indices increasing by 9.35% and 8.75% respectively. The slightest growth was reported by the consumer & retail sector. The RTS Index – Consumer & Retail went down up by 5.99%.