Expert (Moscow), No. 7, February 24, 2003

The market still very strongly depends on the dynamics of oil prices and the situation on world stock markets. The strengthening of the RTS index, which reached 374 points on Tuesday, was leveled by a corresponding drop in the second half of the week due to the decrease in oil prices and world stock indices.

YUKOS shares were among the leaders of the retreat. The company's financial results turned out to be worse than investors had expected and share prices eased back by 2.3 percent. The leaders of the growth were Sberbank securities, which released good financial results for 2002, and Tatneft with a 5 and 6.5 percent gain respectively. RosBusinessConsulting's financial results were positively evaluated. Its revenue and net income surged by 62 percent and 51 percent respectively beating expectations of many stock market analysts.