«Russian stock market kept consolidating between 2,140 and 2,180 points (according to RTS). At the close of exchange on October 17, 2007, the RTS index came to 2,136.53 points, which is 1.68% less than a week earlier, the MICEX one reached 3,285.6 points, which is 1.84% less than a week earlier», SKB-Bank’s trader Alexander Sterkhov says.

«Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the country’s macroeconomic development since the beginning of the year has been better than initially expected; Russia’s GDP grew by 7.7% compared to January 2007 instead of the expected 6.2%. The President also notes that more investments are being made in the Russian economy and more dwellings are being put up for the citizens. In the meantime, macroeconomic development is normally accompanied by good stock market dynamics in the long-term», Mr. Sterkhov notes.

In addition, the new changes in the power engineering reform that eliminate control over the market prices could improve the power industry enterprises’ stock prices in the long-term.

«As for the U.S. macroeconomic statistics, the American mortgage market turned out to be worse than expected. The number of newly put up buildings dropped by 10.2% in September 2007, which is the lowest-ever figure in the last decade. All this has already resulted in the going down of the U.S. stock indices», he adds.

«The Russian stock market is highly likely to keep going down due to the Western banks’ negative dynamics. Trends will also be determined by the Federal Financial Market Service’s decision on October 31, 2007».