Daily Insight-Market resumes rally; merchandise trade shows pause in structural shift of demand since 2008

On Monday, the hryvnia again gained value on the Ukrainian FX market, with, according to UkrDealing, trading opening at 7.91-7.925/USD, the same rate as Friday\'s close, and closing at 7.88-7.92/USD. The NBU bought dollars at a rate of 7.95/USD, and marginally devalued its official exchange rate, to 7.9265/USD on Monday. The hryvnia\'s bid-ask spread marginally shrank on the cash FX market, trading at 7.87/USD for bid offers at the domestic interchange stations, and 7.9226/USD on ask offers. Ukraine\'s stock markets emerged from a sideways trend of the last week, showing a bullish move on Monday, with the PFTS index going up 2.27%, to end the day at 956.26 points, and the UX stock exchange up 2.20%, to 2,422.60 points. Total turnover on the PFTS was nearly that of Friday\'s level, at US$30.7m (UAH243.3m), which comprised equity trading (4.62% of the total) and state bonds (95.38%). The total amount of securities traded on the UX stock exchange was up from Friday\'s level, at US$8.33m (UAH66m).