Ukrainian blue
chips were mixed on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels to
discuss additional sanctions against Russia for its continued support of
separatist paramilitaries in Eastern Ukraine; however, expectations are that any
new EU measures will be marginal in scope. On the main European bourses,
meanwhile, equities gave back much of their gains from Monday, and the S&P
500 and DJIA also edged lower in New York. The UX index inched up by 0.2% to end
at 1255 points due to rises in the basket’s two most actively traded issues,
Motor Sich and CentrEnergo, which moved up by 0.8% and 1.7% respectively, with
the latter ending just a whisker below the UAH 8 level. The negative
contributions to the benchmark’s performance came from low-liquidity names
UkrSotsBank, Yenakievo Steel, and Avdyivka Coke; Raiffeisen Aval also moved down
0.7% to 15.03 kopecks. In London, MHP recovered its loss from Monday after
releasing a fairly positive operational update. The issue added 1.7% to close at
USD 14.95.
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