Locally-listed Ukrainian stocks rallied sharply on Monday (May 19) on
optimism about this weekend’s upcoming presidential election and the latest turn
of events in Donetsk oblast, where top industrialist Rinat Akhmetov has thrown
his weight behind the anti-separatist movement in calling for a major Ukrainian
unity rally to be held today. The UX index was up by 4% at midday and held most
of that gain to the close, finishing with a rise of 3.4% at 1118 points. Motor
Sich was the top performer with its appreciation of 4.0% to UAH 1917, and volume
leader CentrEnergo added 3.5% on turnover of UAH 2.9mn. Also picking up more
than 3% each were DonbasEnergo, Raiffeisen Aval and Azovstal. In London,
however, it was a different story for the top two liquid names Ferrexpo and MHP,
which saw respective declines of 2.4% and 2.2%, with the former ending at a
fresh 2-month low near GBp 139. Warsaw listed agro producer Kernel rose by 3.0%
and shell eggs producer Ovostar added 5.1%.
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