Daily Insight-Hryvnia steady, stock markets continue uptrend; president proceeds with coalition

On Wednesday, the hryvnia remained steady on the Ukrainian FX market, with, according to UkrDealing, trading opening at 7.975-7.985/USD, nearly the same rate as of Friday\'s close, and closing at the same rate, without any major fluctuation, and with the strongest point reached during the day of 7.965-7.982/USD. The NBU devalued the official exchange rate, but only marginally, to 7.984/USD, for Wednesday, and for the 11th day in a row, bought dollars on the FX market, at a rate of 7.98/USD. The hryvnia depreciated slightly on the cash FX market, at 7.9609/USD on bid offers at the domestic interchange stations, and 8.0101/USD on ask offers. Ukraine\'s stock markets continued with their recent strength on Wednesday, with the PFTS index up 2.42%, to end the day at the month\'s high, 801.08 points, and the UX stock exchange up 2.38%, to reach its year\'s high of 2,070.65 points. Total turnover on the PFTS was considerably down from Tuesday, at only US$6.15m (UAH49.1m), which comprised equity trading (38.38% of the total), corporate bonds (0.04%), and state bonds (92.66%). The total amount of securities traded on the UX stock exchange beat its all-time high, at 1.5x higher than the previous day, a record-high level of US$12.61m (UAH100.7m).