Russian markets are all calm and quite ahead of
the Presidential elections the coming Sunday, as investors prefer
to sit and wait. The political factor is already priced in, experts
agree, yet, there’s still concern over what policies will come
next.
“The extra Russian political risk has almost
been washed away,” says Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist at Troika
Dialog. “Many investors may, however, wait to ensure there is no
final surprise in the forthcoming election before raising their
Russia bets,” he added.
Historically, investors prefer to
remain in the shadow ahead of huge political events, as risks
always mount during this time, Aleksandre Ryvkin, a senior markets
specialist at Metropol IFC, told Business RT. The risks in Russia
are currently about the composition of a new Cabinet of Ministers
and the future economic course rather than about the person likely
to be elected, he added.
It’s the quiet after the storm as Russian
markets were trembling in December as protesters filled the squares
of Moscow every other week-end following the Parliamentary
elections.
A new opinion poll from Levada, shows two thirds
of Russians who have made up their minds about Sunday’s
Presidential election say they are going to vote for Vladimir
Putin.
“The Levada opinion poll has at least had a
positive effect to investor sentiment because many commentators had
been citing the January poll, which showed Putin’s expected vote
share at only 37%, as a reason to expect either a surprise outcome
or a 2nd round,” Chris Weafer of Troika Dialog explains.
Indeed, the Russian markets are basically
cooling on Monday, after a major rally on Friday, Pavel Krapchitov,
a managing director at MDM managing company, told Finam.
“After a 4%-5% increase some shares are becoming
1% cheaper, but no a massive correction is expected,” as money is
still coming to the market, from the ECB in particular, and the oil
prices remain high, Krapchitov concluded.
http://rt.com/business/news/russia-presidential-elections-markets-309/