← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Eendracht Maakt Mag
Thread ID: 10302 | Posts: 17 | Started: 2003-10-06
2003-10-06 20:47 | User Profile
Mr Putin has moved to reassure the markets Russia's stock market is celebrating a record closing high - just five years after a rouble crisis brought the country's economy to its knees. The country's main RTS index has gained more than 1,300% in the past five years and this week topped the previous high of 571.66 points recorded in 1997.
The landmark was hailed by analysts in Moscow as a psychological break with the 'old Russia'.
But some economists also warned about an over-reliance on energy stocks and Western investment.
'Highest in the world'
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov claimed the country now had the fastest growing financial markets in the world.
Speaking on Russian television, he said: "The Russian market - stocks, bonds and other securities - has reached a new record high in terms of capitalization.
"We have always said 1997 was a record year in this respect, with capitalization of the Russian market reaching just over $150bn - but today it exceeds $200bn.
"And the rate of development, the rate of growth in the market, is the highest in the world."
'Right of passage'
The RTS index closed on Wednesday at 573.85 points - higher than the previous record of 571.66 points registered on 6 October 1997.
And it continued to rise on Thursday to close at 588.44 points.
The Russian market's low point was recorded exactly five years ago on 2 October, 1998 when it ended the day at 38.81 on almost non-existent trading volume.
The RTS has gained an astronomical 1,379% since then, and is up 49.9% on the year.
"The RTS completed its 'rite of passage' from the old Russia to the new with a record high closing level," Alfa Bank said in a research note.
"Establishing a new high in this modern market era was always seen as something of a psychological barrier to finally leave the past behind.
"That has now been done, and finally, as a reference point, 1997 is now dead and buried," the bank said.
Foreign investors
Mr Kasyanov said the rise was down to social reforms achieved over the past four years that raised real incomes and propelled investments.
And he urged his cabinet to concentrate on measures that "could keep this momentum moving forward".
But traders said the latest Russian surge had largely been fuelled by foreign investors.
And they warned similar levels of foreign investment existed before the market imploded in late 1997, after catching the so-called "Asian flu" that wreaked havoc across emerging economies.
Foreign investors fled Russia in August 1998 after the government defaulted on its bond obligations and effectively devalued the rouble.
Stand-off
The Russian market went on to lose 90% of its value, while the rouble fell 80% in six months.
Today, buying Russia is a much less lonely experience
James Fekner, Troika Dialogue bank Roland Nash of Renaissance Capital said: "For those who remember how depressed the market once was, it is a fascinating lesson of the ability of the market to look forward and forget the past."
The latest market surge comes despite an ongoing stand-off between the Kremlin and Russia's biggest energy company Yukos, over the controversial early 1990s privatization of state assets.
The arrest of leading business people over the summer prompted speculation that the state might reverse privatization.
'Stronger foundations'
But Russian President Vladimir Putin - after initially staying out of the conflict - dismissed the speculation prompting the current surge in the markets.
"Today, buying Russia is a much less lonely experience," James Fekner of the Troika Dialogue bank told AFP newswire.
"The country's political and economic foundations are stronger, integration with the world economy closer, prospects higher," he added.
But analysts have warned Russia's markets are over-dependent on the volatile energy sector, with up to 75% of capital tied up in oil and natural gas.
2003-10-07 00:59 | User Profile
This is indeed good news, but I have to say I'm still skeptical of the long-term implications.
2003-10-07 03:54 | User Profile
[QUOTE=rban]Yes, the genetically inferior nature of Slavic subhumans never fails to destroy what bright Jews have created. Look at Russia for example...the marvellous military and space equipment developed by Jewish scientists, all going straight down the drain!!
Could you please name at least one of these "Jewish" scientists, rban? Most of the key figures in the Russian space program (Tsiolkovsky, Korolev, etc... were Russian).
Russia reminds me very much of what is happening in South Africa. In SA, the country was well developed when whites ran the place, as soon as Negroes took over, the collapse began. Similarly, Jews have left Russia and look what happens!!
Indeedm do look what happens! Did you even read the article, monkey? Are you even literate? The Russian economy has never been better - all thanks in great part to the fact that Putin has expelled the thieving oligarch zhids.
Slavs are the n*ggers of Europe, no doubt about it.[/QUOTE]
Well, since you yourself are a n!gger, I'll assume you're complimenting Russians in your own moronic way.
Tex, how much crap does this turd have to spew until you ban him?
2003-10-07 10:31 | User Profile
[QUOTE=rban]Yes, the genetically inferior nature of Slavic subhumans never fails to destroy what bright Jews have created. Look at Russia for example...the marvellous military and space equipment developed by Jewish scientists, all going straight down the drain!!
Russia reminds me very much of what is happening in South Africa. In SA, the country was well developed when whites ran the place, as soon as Negroes took over, the collapse began. Similarly, Jews have left Russia and look what happens!!
Slavs are the n*ggers of Europe, no doubt about it. Russia minus the Jews= Africa.[/QUOTE]
Jeez... when last did I read such an ignorant, stupid post?
2003-10-07 15:11 | User Profile
[QUOTE=rban]Oh, Prodigal Son, who are you kidding here? Those Russian names you spouted...they stole Jewish ideas and presented them as their own.
Evidence please?
And buddy...fight your own battles, stop asking TD to intervene. People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...you have insulted many races and nationalities including mine, now you don't like it when you take sh*t?
I've insulted you only in retaliation for your own inane drivel.
This is a WN forum
What the hell are you doing here then?
If you can't take constructive criticism here, then leave.[/QUOTE]
Comparing Russians to Hindus/n*ggers (same thing) is not "constructive criticism"; its the greatest of insults.
2003-10-07 15:29 | User Profile
I agree, EMM. Sorry if this ruffles anyone's feathers but I've had more than enough dealing with this guy.
2003-10-07 15:55 | User Profile
No bad monkey anymore? :cowboy:
2003-10-07 15:56 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Texas Dissident]I agree, EMM. Sorry if this ruffles anyone's feathers but I've had more than enough dealing with this guy.[/QUOTE]
A good and wise decision. :cheers:
(I wouldn't expect to last a day on an Afrocentric forum with my views -- rban, on the other hand, had a good and long ride here at OD.)
2003-10-07 16:02 | User Profile
[QUOTE=madrussian]No bad monkey anymore? :cowboy:[/QUOTE]
I'm afraid not. I'm sorry, mr. I know how much you enjoyed him. Thing is, when he stuck with the hindu supremacy shtick then he was pretty humourous. But when he gets off into the derrogatory ethnic insults against arabs and slavs, then it becomes too much to bear. Today's latest unprovoked round of insults was the proverbial straw.
Maybe we'll get a new, more entertaining troll to play around with sometime soon.
2003-10-07 16:07 | User Profile
[QUOTE=friedrich braun]rban, on the other hand, had a good and long ride here at OD.)[/QUOTE]
Indeed he did. If he only knew how much flak I've taken for keeping him around as long as I did.
Vaya con Dios, rbanowitz.
2003-10-07 16:07 | User Profile
Good riddance to a bad chimp.
2003-10-07 16:11 | User Profile
While often amusing, whether intentional or not, class clowns like rban divert the forum from it purpose. As an occasional poster the boardââ¬â¢s primary utility to me is educational and judging by the board's ââ¬Ëguestââ¬â¢ to ââ¬Ëmemberââ¬â¢ ratio that is also true for most of the other users here.
At last OD can produce threads on HB1 visas that donââ¬â¢t have to veer off into kicking a deranged Hinjew into place.
2003-10-07 16:16 | User Profile
(is there something wrong with insulting arabs?)
2003-10-07 16:47 | User Profile
I applaud TD's decision to ban Rban. After that rude remark he made about one of my relative's being killed because of some Hindu doctor's incompetence was totally uncalled for.
2003-10-07 21:47 | User Profile
[QUOTE=AntiYuppie] Didn't somebody say that one of rban's other cyber-aliases more or less admitted to being Jewish? [/QUOTE]
Indeed. [url=http://forums.originaldissent.com/showthread.php?t=8846]Link[/url].
2003-10-11 11:32 | User Profile
Another bullish-on-Russia article from the Moscow Times, 10 October 2003..
[url]http://www.themoscowtimes.ru/stories/2003/10/10/002.html[/url]
Walter
By Alla Startseva Staff Writer By air, land and sea, the rush to invest in Russia has gone into overdrive.
In less than a week, a visiting French prime minister committed his nation to boosting investments in Russia like never before, the stock market soared into virgin territory, and Moscow's credit was for the first time declared good enough for the world's widows and orphans.
"Since Wednesday, we have been living in a new country," said Renaissance Capital chief economist Alexei Moisseyev.
But it didn't stop there.
Vladimir Putin capped one of the most euphoric financial weeks of his presidency Thursday by announcing that Moscow is just days away from sealing a deal with Berlin to begin constructing a $6 billion gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea that could dramatically increase Russia's already considerable share of the European gas market.
And that was just the main business attraction of a two-day summit with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder that produced more than a dozen commercial and political agreements ranging from railways and electricity to tourism and medicine.
"Russia and Germany have excellent political relations that need no improvement," Schroeder was quoted by news agencies as saying after the two leaders met for the seventh time this year and the 20th as heads of state.
Putin's fluency in German and his knowledge of the culture from his KGB posting in Dresden have been a key factors in the dramatic improvement in relations between the two Cold War foes.
Putin noted that since 1999, when he became prime minister, bilateral trade has grown 80 percent to nearly $29 billion a year, making Germany Russia's largest trading partner.
"Our relationship has seriously improved in all the areas," Putin said. "But Chancellor Schroeder is not satisfied -- he thinks more could be done, and I totally agree with him."
Putin said for the last 30 years, since Russia started large-scale gas exports to Germany, energy has been the most strategic sphere of cooperation between the two countries.
He said that "within two or three days" the two countries should finalize the details of the $6 billion Baltic Sea pipeline project, which would allow Russian gas to flow directly to Europe without having to pass through troublesome Ukraine and Belarus.
The pipeline will first connect with northern Germany, but will eventually have spurs to Holland, Sweden and even Great Britain.
Schroeder said he was confident the agreement would be signed "imminently," and Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref later said that executives from Gazprom and its German counterpart Ruhrgas will meet in St. Petersburg on Friday to finalize the deal.
In another major development, top German utility E.On agreed to invest up to $500 million in a pilot project with national power monopoly Unified Energy Systems to build two giant gas turbines near the Shekinskaya hydropower station in the Tula region by 2008.
The two companies also signed a "strategic long-term cooperation agreement" that calls for E.On's participation in upcoming tenders for the right to manage UES generating assets. Tycoon Vladimir Potanin's Interros holding signed a similar agreement with Electricite de France during French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's visit to Moscow earlier in the week.
Another German energy company, Deutsche Energie-Agentur GmbH, struck a deal Thursday with the Russian government on a pilot project to increase electricity efficiency in the regions.
Russia's utilities are on the verge of collapse after being virtually ignored by the government for decades. Up to 90 percent of the infrastructure of some regions is beyond repair and as much as 60 percent of electricity is wasted.
Deutsche Energie-Agentur said in a statement that it would invest in the modernization of Samara's electricity network and do the same in other cities if it is successful.
The Germans are also keen to work more closely with the third so-called natural monopoly, the newly created Russian Railways Co., or RZD.
RZD and its counterpart Deutsche Bahn AG signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at "significantly increasing passenger and cargo traffic as well the competitiveness of rail transport between the two countries."
RZD chief Gennady Fadeyev said the two companies agreed to set up a task force to hammer out by January the technical and financial requirements to slash the amount of time it takes for cargo to travel between Moscow and Berlin and double annual volumes.
Also on Thursday, Germany's Bosch said it had signed an 8 million euro contract on the sidelines of the summit to deliver equipment for a genetic engineering facility in Sverdlovsk that produces insulin.
On the military front, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer signed a one-year agreement allowing German military equipment and personnel to cross Russia on the way to Afghanistan.
The two sides also agreed to ease their respective visa regimes by granting long-term visas and reducing or abolishing visa fees for some citizens.
Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov said he agreed with his German counterpart to ease the visa regime for "youth and students, top federal and regional authorities, scientists, sportsmen, cultural figures and certainly businessmen."
He said the agreement may be finalized by the end of the year. The two countries also agreed to double the number of student exchange programs in 2004.
Gryzlov also said the two countries decided to establish a special body to fight international terrorism. And Germany confirmed its plans to lend 300 million euros to for nuclear safety issues, most of which will go toward scrapping 120 decommissioned nuclear submarines that were formerly part of the Soviet Union's Northern Fleet.
2003-10-11 17:11 | User Profile
Europe has no other choice but expand eastwards, despite all their fears. The other choice is to be eventually eclipsed by the Asian block and Russia committing to the East for deals and trade. Can the Wild East reawaken the pioneer spirit in the Western Europeans?
If Western Europe is too afraid of incorporating Russia, they don't have to. Trade and business deals are enough to eventually bring the Russians closer to the West. The rest will follow.