Our Comments and Expectations
External Background. The S&P 500 closed neutral yesterday. The best performance among major indices once again came from the Dow Jones, which gained 0.7% and set fresh all-time highs. On the index map, solid growth was seen in the financial sector, healthcare, and semiconductor companies. AMD jumped 9% following its forecast of accelerated sales growth over the next five years due to rising demand for data-center products. Investors are now focused on Nvidia’s Q3 earnings report, scheduled for November 19. The event is particularly interesting given SoftBank’s recent exit from its stake in the company. Meanwhile, the U.S. government’s record-long 42-day shutdown came to an end yesterday. Most government operations will continue until January 30, while some agencies are funded until September 30. In Europe, equities rose more actively — the Stoxx 600 rally continues, with the index climbing for the third consecutive session and renewing its highs. In Asia this morning, growth also persisted: Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is up 0.4%, and China’s CSI 300 is up 1.2%. Oil fell 3.8% yesterday as U.S. crude inventories increased by 1.3 million barrels for the week ending November 7. Gold rose to its highest level since October 21.
Bonds. Yields on U.S. government bonds resumed their decline. The 10-year yield fell to 4.06%.
KASE Index. The KASE index traded neutral for the second consecutive session, leaving wicks on the daily chart. Trading volumes amounted to 674.3 million tenge. Today’s session opened with a moderate 0.4% decline.
Index Constituents. The largest gain yesterday came from Kazakhtelecom shares — we had previously noted rising activity there, but the overall technical picture still remains in a downward trend. KazTransOil rose 1.5%, a stock we highlighted yesterday as potentially interesting for the short-term horizon. On the LSE, the strongest growth was seen in Kazatomprom — shares were highly volatile within the session, dropping to $54.7 and rising to $57.9. Kaspi closed neutral, but today on KASE it has become the main decliner at the open, losing 0.9%. Air Astana GDRs fell after the earnings report, which was moderately negative, though largely due to a one-off event — defective Pratt & Whitney engines.
Currency. Today the dollar trades at 524 tenge and is slightly weakening against the tenge. USDRUB is also showing an attempt at ruble strengthening after a consolidation phase.