Russia's $10 billion sovereign private equity fund is making its first investment, buying a stake in the country's MICEX-RTS stock market with the aim of boosting the exchange's IPO hopes and helping develop Moscow's rudimentary capital markets. Russia’s newest state fund made its first investment on Monday, buying a stake in Moscow’s...

... full, we'll be thinking seriously about whether it makes sense to have a foreign listing," Provotorov said, Itar-Tass reported. The central depositary will replace the two separate ones that currently exist and will serve clients of the merged MICEX-RTS bourse. Its launch will change the rules of the game on the domestic stock market and create "a real chance to attract investors," said Dmitry Pankin, head of the Federal Service for Financial Markets, who participated in the forum...

... to develop exchange trade in food. The Agriculture Ministry plans to develop exchange trade in food, the ministry said Monday. At a meeting led by Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynnik and with the participation of executives from the recently merged MICEX-RTS bourse, issues related to developing exchange trade in the market for deliverable grain futures were discussed, Interfax reported. The meeting's participants noted that developing a system for deliverable futures contracts will allow agricultural...

... of consistently strong consumer demand and an acceleration in investments toward the end of the year while import growth decelerated," Dmitry Polevoi, chief economist for Russia and Kazakhstan at ING Groep in Moscow, said by e-mail. The 30-stock MICEX Index was 0.8 percent stronger at 1,507.66 at 4:40 p.m. in Moscow and the ruble strengthened 1.2 percent to 30.0706 per dollar. Agricultural output surged 16.1 percent last year from a 9.7 percent contraction in 2010 after a drought and forest fires...

... create its own central depositary by April after the merger of the country's two main bourses last month, Economy Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina said at a government meeting Tuesday. The National Depositary Center, which settles trades on the MICEX exchange, and the Depositary Clearing Company, which represents the smaller RTS, will be combined to help improve settlement and clearing procedures for investors. The move is part of the bid to turn Moscow into an international financial hub. (Bloomberg)

... suffered its worst losing streak in three months after saying it would cap a share buyback for investors that lost money in its 2007 initial public offering. Shares of state-controlled VTB sank 1.9 percent to 6.77 kopeks by Friday's close of trading on MICEX. The fifth day of declines capped the stock's longest losing streak since November. VTB surged as much as 4.3 percent on Feb. 2 after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told the Moscow-based lender to consider buying back shares from investors who participated...

... accounts; in reality fresh money is not yet visible on the market, he said. "Through the middle of February, there will be no serious inflows or outflows — until there is some clarity about the presidential election," Kukk said. With MICEX up 6 percent, it's clear that related markets are paying attention, but so far the situation on markets globally isn't so bad as to push investors to the Russian market, ignoring the lack of political clarity and other risks, one trader said. ...

... we've historically been." Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's campaign to return to the presidency in the March 4 election has spurred tens of thousands of people to protest in the streets against alleged fraud in December's legislative polls. The MICEX Index has climbed 9.3 percent this year, tracking a rally in London-traded crude oil, the country's main source of export earnings. The Russian equity gauge is valued at 5.7 times profit, the lowest in three years relative to MSCI's gauge of global...

... controlled by Russian Railways, the papers reported. Sechin apparently suggested that the price for the stake be set by an independent auditor. Shares in the port traded down 1.54 percent to $7.01 in London and up 0.69 percent to 2.9 rubles on the MICEX at close Monday. That would value the entire company at about $1.83 billion, Reuters reported — putting the value of the blocking stake at about $460 million. That values the port significantly below the $4.93 billion valuation the port received...