Page 102 - RusRPTMar21

Sberbank in the top 10 stocks held by retail investors jumped from 10.5% to 14.2%, while Yandex appeared in the top 10 with a 7.3% weight. In the meantime, the weight of Gazprom and Lukoil, which have outperformed nicely, fell by 4 pp and 2 pp, respectively. Essentially, retail investor flows mirror the moves of institutional investors, who reduced positions in domestic stocks amid increased political uncertainty while favoring "reflation trade" stocks in the commodity universe.
EM/FM equities as a whole saw net inflow of $5.7bn (0.33% of sampled AUM) in the week to February 3, the 19th week in the last 20 to show a positive figure. That said, this week's numbers show a tick down from the previous week's $6.9bn. Moreover, China ($2.6bn) and South Korea ($2.6bn) together soaked up nearly the entire sum.
GEM funds saw net inflow of $709mn (0.08%), down from the previous week's $2.7bn. Some 60% of the week's net inflow to all EM funds was passive, while 36% of that to GEM funds was passive.
Russia saw a 12th straight week of net inflow but also a fourth straight week of deceleration. A net $33mn (0.05% of sampled AUM) was brought in, down from the previous $81mn. Russia 0.05% net inflow was below 0.09-0.10% medians for EMs as a whole and BRICST. In the reporting week, the MSCI EM gained 1.5% while the RTS declined 0.4%.
Russia-dedicated funds saw net outflow of $6mn (0.06%), an improvement from the previous week's $33mn outflow. EMEA, Europe and BRIC funds saw net outflow of some $12mn.
On the positive side was net inflow of $28mn (0.08%) from GEM funds and $23mn (0.27%) from global funds.
The combination of flows and performances would indicate that investors not tracked by EPFR numbers, like hedge funds, were on the selling side. With the Russian market also underperforming oil, the combination indicates active investors were increasingly cautious toward risks from Russia's international relations.
102 RUSSIA Country Report March 2021 www.intellinews.com