Daily Insight-Hryvnia steady, stock markets diverge

On Tuesday, the hryvnia held steady on the Ukrainian FX market, opening, according to UkrDealing, at 7.923-7.927/USD, the same rate as last Friday\'s close, and closing at the same rate, with the strongest point reached during the day at 7.9216-7.9251/USD. The NBU again bought dollars at the rate of 7.925/USD, and kept its official exchange rate at 7.9259/USD for Tuesday. The hryvnia depreciated, but only marginally, on the cash FX market, to 7.8880/USD for bid offers at the domestic interchange stations, and 7.9326/USD on ask offers. Ukraine\'s stock markets were mixed on Friday, with the PFTS index moving down 0.27%, to 867.59 points, and the UX stock exchange rising 3.62%, to 2,186.07 points. Total turnover on the PFTS was down nearly 2x from Friday\'s level, at US$67.5m (UAH535m), with the share of equity trading at 2.1% of the total, and state bonds representing 97.9%. The total amount of securities traded on the UX stock exchange was nearly that of Friday\'s level, at US$9.3m (UAH73.9m).