Page 113 - RusRPTJan21

8.3 ​Stock market
8.3.1 ​Equity market dynamics
The departing year of 2020 has been one of extremes in many ways for the stock market.​ The global economy was hit the hardest in decades by the pandemic, the global stock market collapsed at a record pace in March only to recover at a record pace too. For the Russian stock market, the rebound was not as strong as for some Asian EMs, which have been among the indirect beneficiaries of the low COVID-19 impact. Now, the year is finishing on a high note for most global stock markets, and the Russian flagship ruble-based MOEX index is setting new all-time highs, while the $-based RTS is still below the multiyear record levels it reached in January.
Fund flows for the year had three distinct periods. It started on multiyear record inflows into GEM and Russia funds, which were brutally halted by the news of the Wuhan epidemic. Russian stocks in the first months of the year received net RUB59bn, which also helped the currency rise to RUB61/$. The brutal March selloff wiped that out – RUB126bn was withdrawn from Russian equities on fund redemptions. Another RUB118bn left Russian equities in April-October, primarily out of actively managed funds. The US Presidential Elections revived EM optimism and vaccine news triggered a fierce rotation into the underperforming energy sector, which saw RUB92bn of inflows return to Russian stocks in the past seven weeks and insured the MOEX index sets a new all-time high.
113 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ January 2021 www.intellinews.com