Bears had their day with Yukos as Bruce Misamore, its finance manager, said, morning, the company was short of money and so could be ruined within a few days. Even skyrocketing world petroleum prices failed to dispel dealers' gloom.
Suspense-laden developments round Yukos have been lately determining the Russian market situation, and bad news from it rule out big rises, says Sergei Kosynkin, Zerich Capital Management trading board chief.
The fall of this morning corrected last Friday's overall rise, which had no big change to back it, remarked Alexei Logvin, Interfintrade analyst.
Viktor Gerashchenko, Yukos Board chair and previous Central Bank president of long standing, came out with a contrasting statement later in the day. The giant will certainly not announce bankruptcy-at least, within a few next days, as it can perfectly afford all necessary transactions throughout this month and September, he reassured. The invigorated exchange immediately sent the Yukos stock up at that, though far more cautiously than last week, when bulls broke records on several occasions. Today, Yukos came a mere 5 per cent up within the Russian Trading System closing hour to finish the day at $4.35-1.16 per cent up against closing time last Friday.
Dealers made a far-reaching interpretation of Mr. Gerashchenko's statement, and now find Yukos bankruptcy prospects vague enough. Forecasts are not so bleak now than recently to rob bears of their strategic benefit, says Alexei Logvin.
Yukos was thus going up and down on a big scale all through the day, depending on the latest news. Analysts find the company very hazardous as before.
The Yukos stock defies prognostication, so capital investors and speculators ought to keep away from it, warns Anatoly Kaplin, Aton expert.
The day sent the RTS index a token 0.59 per cent up to 558.64, with an approximate 19 million dollar turnover. Mosenergo rose the highest of all, by 5 per cent, while Surgutneftegaz made the day's worst fall, by 0.53 per cent. Experts ascribe it to the company's dwindling chance for a slice of the Yukos legacy.
On the whole, the day brought no sensations either to stun or to encourage the market, even with mutually contrasting forecasts from the Yukos top, with resulting ups and downs.
