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Prospect of Trump-Putin meeting lifts Russia stocks, rouble, Ukraine bonds
Prospect of Trump-Putin meeting lifts Russia stocks, rouble, Ukraine bonds
About this update from Sovcomflot
Russia's rouble strengthened, Moscow stocks jumped and Ukrainian bonds rallied on Thursday after the prospect of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump fuelled hopes of easing geopolitical tensions. Russia's main stock market index MOEX gained more than 5% to touch a near three-month peak of 2,915 points, in its strongest day in over two weeks. Gas producer Gazprom RUS:GAZP enjoyed a lift of 3.4% and technology firm Yandex (YDEX.MM) jumped 3.2%.The SPB Exchange, which specialised in trading foreign shares before it was hit by Western sanctions, rose 7.5%.The gains come after an announcement by Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov that Putin and Trump will meet in coming days - which would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021."Investors hope that the meeting will be a step towards normalizing the geopolitical situation," Alfa Bank analysts said in a note to clients. "The stocks of companies that benefit from the easing of tensions are growing more strongly, including Gazprom, Aeroflot RUS:AFLT and Sovcomflot RUS:FLOT." Stocks with exposure to both countries also gained. Ukrainian-focused miner Ferrexpo LSE:FXPO rallied around 20%, while Austrian lender Raiffeisen International VIE:RBI soared more than 12%, also boosted by a Russian court lifting a freeze on its local unit.The enthusiasm spread to FX markets, with the rouble strengthening to a two-week high against the dollar and China's yuan. The Russian currency advanced 0.7% to hit 79.45 against the dollar by 1010 GMT, according to data compiled by LSEG based on over-the-counter quotes. The rouble strengthened by 0.6% against the yuan, Russia's most-traded foreign currency, on the Moscow Stock Exchange.The announcement of the prospective meeting between the two leaders came a day after U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff held talks in Moscow with Putin in a push to secure a breakthrough to end the . International bonds issued by Ukraine also rallied sharply, with 2035 and 2036 maturities gaining more than 4 cents on the dollar to trade between 52.5-56.7 cents, both at their highest level since mid-May, Tradeweb data showed. The GDP-linked warrant gained 1.35 cents to stand at 76.4 cents.