Recovery came on Friday, Sept. 19, after the RTS had fallen 57 percent from its May 19 high. It was combined with oil prices and foreign investors' trust lowering.
In a welcome change, the day's top picks were VTB, Rosneft and Sberbank, with the three state-controlled firms seeing their shares rise 60 percent, 58 percent and 56 percent, respectively.
Yet their collapse in the preceding days meant that only Rosneft gained on the week, by a modest 6 percent. VTB was still off 15 percent while Sberbank ended the week down 5.6 percent.
Some analysts believe that this must be a sign of a long-awaited recovery, but the final result depends on two factors — world oil prices and whether the funds from the state reached their intended recipients.
An upseting information was brought from rating agency Standard & Poor's, which on Friday downgraded Russia's debt outlook to stable from positive. The agency earlier criticized government proposals to prop up stocks with state money, citing worries over an inflation rate still running close to an annual 15 percent.
"For the RTS to return to sustainable growth and rise above 1,400, investors would want to see commodity prices somehow stabilizing and concerns about global financial institutions disappearing," UBS said to Moscow Times reporter.
Author: Ksenia Kochneva
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Government Help Changes Stock Market Situation
After government support from President Dmitry Medvedev for distressed stocks and a promise of tax cuts, RTS and MICEX have rebound
