FINAM - Daily Market Watch - Oct 15, 2009

Market Roundup Upbeat sentiment prevailed in domestic trading Wednesday, fed by a surge on commodity exchanges and strength on Western equity markets, with the RTS Index advancing 2.94% and the MICEX Index gaining 3.19%. O&G plays saw major gains on rising oil prices, as Gazprom climbed 5.2%, Rosneft advanced 0.9% and Lukoil jumped 3%. Demand for banking names looked patchy, as Sberbank added 3.1% to its market cap and Bank VTB was up 0.6%. Steels went higher in stride with the market, with MMK leaping 2.9%, NLMK surging 4.2% and Severstal ending 4% higher. US benchmarks gained over 1.5% Wednesday on strong earnings released by JP Morgan and US retail sales data that outpaced investor expectations.