Optimism reigned on the Ukrainian bourse from June 8 to June 15, with the PFTS index of leading Ukrainian shares rising 5 percent to close at 22.03 on June 15. Trading volumes were also on the up, tripling on last trading period's figure to almost Hr 33 million.
'The market's going up and will continue doing so,' said Eric Naiman, portfolio manager at brokers Polar Invest.
Kyivenergo and Dniproenergo were the most actively traded securities during the trading period.
Hoping to give the stock exchange a further boost, the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 8 approved a list of investment-attractive companies, whose shares can only be traded on the official exchanges. The list includes 261 of the most attractive blue-chip companies in Ukraine.
A company is considered investment attractive if it has assets of over 400,000 euros, has 1 million shares floated, and either registered a 1998 profit of more than 80,000 euros or had a total profit of more than 220,000 euros over the last three years.
Shares of investment-attractive companies are allowed to be traded only on organized exchanges; all deals struck elsewhere are illegal.
In another sign that the market is rising, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it registered 13 new share emissions last month. Meanwhile, the continued stabilization seen on the currency market allowed the National Bank of Ukraine to take a break from floating its certificates of deposit. Since the beginning of the year, the NBU has held 23 CD auctions.
Bonds
The Ministry of Finance said it sold Hr 940,000 worth of its Savings OVDPs to citizens and companies in May. The total for May is twice the total value of bonds sold since they were first floated in the fall of 1998.
Analysts put the increased interest in Savings OVDPs down to the fact that the first Hr 17 coupon payment is due this month. The second and third coupons, each of Hr 8.50, are due in six months and 12 months respectively. The bonds mature in two years and have a nominal price of Hr 50 each.
The Finance Ministry sold Hr 50 million worth of OVDPs on June 11. The bonds have a maturity of 432 days and yield 29.47 percent per annum. Since the beginning of the year, the ministry has sold just over Hr 2 billion worth of OVDPs.
Minister of Finance Ihor Mitiukov said on June 9 that the ministry might resume flotation of short-term bonds with maturities of one to three months. The ministry will first analyze the pattern of OVDP sales on the secondary market, and will then start to issue small amounts of short-term bonds on the primary market to see how the market reacts. If yields on the market get too high, the ministry will halt flotation of the bonds, Mitiukov said.
The secondary OVDP market is also gradually starting to revive. Two contracts for the sale of Hr 836,283 worth of OVDPs were concluded on the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange on June 9. The bonds yield 17.52 percent per annum and have a maturity of 274 days. Two days later, on June 11, Hr 1,068,486 worth of OVDPs changed hands, and on June 14 Hr 3,890,158 worth of OVDPs were traded.
At present on the secondary market, bonds with maturities of one to three months yield from 20 to 22 percent per annum.
