Kyiv-listed equities ended mixed during the holiday-shortened 3-day trading week to open May. On the macroeconomic front, there was a report that headline consumer inflation marginally slowed down in April to 8.4% from 8.5% in March. Nevertheless, on a month-on-month basis the CPI still grew by a significant 0.7%. The high inflation pace could trigger a further increase in the interest rates in Ukraine’s financial system. We also believe that the current inflation level represents a threat for the hryvnia, which has been performing impressively since the start of the year, gaining some 2% against the dollar.
The UX index dropped by 3.6% to 1812 points solely due to a correction in the UNAF stock. UkrNafta (UNAF) lost 7.7% to close at UAH 240 per share despite the company’s report of a solid net profit of UAH 1.06bn for 1Q21 (EPS of UAH 19.54). In other UX components, CentrEnergo (CEEN) had no reaction to the company’s announcement of a net loss of UAH 795mn for 1Q21. The CEEN stock added 0.6% to UAH 9.10.
DonbasEnergo (DOEN) advanced by 6.8% to UAH 26.70 as the company approved a dividend of 37 kopecks per share from FY20 profit. The dividend payout was somewhat lower than expected - 30% instead of 50%.
In London trading, iron ore group Ferrexpo (FXPO) approached its all-time high, rallying by 9.1% to GBp 479 along with global iron ore prices, which now exceed USD 200 per tonne. Meanwhile, MHP (MHPC) slid 5.5% to a new multi-year low of USD 4.82 per share.
On the Warsaw Stock Exchange, Ukrainian agro producers enjoyed some notable gains as demand and prices for soft commodities are on the rise worldwide. Sunflower oil maker and grain exporter Kernel (KER) grew by 3.9% to PLN 53.00 and sugar producer Astarta (AST) increased by 2.1% to PLN 44.70.
The hryvnia strengthened marginally by 0.2% to 27.76 UAH/USD after the National Bank reported that the country’s forex reserves increased by nearly USD 1bn in April thanks to a new Eurobond placement, and now stand at USD 28.0bn.
POLITICS AND ECONOMICS
- Blinken Becomes 1st Top Biden Admin Official to Visit Ukraine
STOCKS IN THE NEWS
- UkrNafta Sees Improved 1Q Result, Posts Net Profit of UAH 1.06bn (EPS of UAH 19.50)
- CentrEnergo Posts Huge 1st-Quarter Loss of UAH 795mn
full report
Eavex Capital welcomes any questions
or comments you may have regarding our research products.
Please contact us by email:
Dmitry Churin, Head of Research,
[email protected]
