Russian equity market dynamics
Last week, the Russian equity market underperformed the broader emerging markets (EM) index, due to the impact from both Russia-specific factors and a difference in sector structures.
- Russia-specific factors: The Russian index heavyweight Yandex failed in its USD 5.5 billion Tinkoff acquisition talks with TCS Group, which would have been Russia’s biggest corporate deal of 2020. Additionally, the EU and the UK imposed sanctions on six government officials and one research organisation over the alleged poisoning of a prominent government opposition activist. However, we believe that the introduction of material sanctions is unlikely. Read more in our recent white paper
- Difference in sector structures: Growing uncertainties over oil demand amid new lockdown measures across EU countries put pressure on Russia’s energy sector.
Main Russian news
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) softened its outlook for the Russian economy. The agency expects Russia’s GDP to decline by 4.1% in 2020 vs. the drop of 6.6% it had forecast in June. The outlook change came after better Q2 results and signs of a stronger recovery in Q3. However, the IMF downgraded its GDP forecast for 2021 to growth of 2.8% from the previous estimate of 4.1%, reflecting the more moderate downturn projected for 2020. Moreover, the IMF expects average annual inflation in 2020-2021 to be around 3.2%, and the unemployment rate not to fall below 5%.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported an improvement in the current account in Q3. After a Q2 deficit of USD 0.5 billion, the Q3 figures turned positive at a surplus of USD 2.5 billion. The total surplus for the first nine months of 2020 was USD 24.1 billion. The current account was mainly supported by a stronger-than-expected decline in imports. However even this relatively strong surplus was not enough to cover net capital outflows, which totalled USD 7.9 billion in Q3, and USD 35.5 billion over the first nine months of 2020.
To watch…
Rosstat is due to publish macroeconomic figures for September later this week.
Author: Marina Tsutskiridze, Junior Investment Specialist
Sources: Rosstat, Vedomosti, Bloomberg, TKB Investment Partners (JSC); October 2020