By Chris Weafer

Chief Strategist for Uralsib Group

After the near frenetic pace of price growth in recent days, global markets are showing modest losses this morning while investors wait for another signal to justify whether they should be more focused on debt risk or on economic growth indicators. Monday is a holiday in the US (Martin Luther King Day) so many traders are also pairing positions ahead of the long weekend. The Nikkei is off 0.8%, China’s CSI 300 is down 1.7%, Korea’s market is up 1.0% and both India and Australia are almost flat in afternoon trade.

By Chris Weafer

Chief Strategist for Uralsib Group

Tuesday’s post holiday opening in Moscow will be a lot duller that would have been the case late last week because of the weakness in global markets and in commodities since Friday. Last Thursday MICEX might have traded up about 4.0% while tomorrow, i.e. depending on how the US closes today, it will be lucky to make a 1.0% gain. Steel-coal themes are the exception because of the flooding in Australia. Oil is also an exception to the otherwise weakening trend in commodities (as the US$ trades below $1.30 against the Euro) and one-month Brent last marked up $1.88 p/bbl at $95.21 p/bbl. The consensus view is that Brent may reach $100 p/bbl before correcting.

By Chris Weafer

Chief Strategist for Uralsib Group

Strong start to 2011. The first weekly funds flow report of 2011 shows that investor appetite for emerging market (EM) equities remains as strong as it has been through 2010. Investor interest in Russia is also continuing strong, albeit most of the new money flows to Russia and other “commodity themed” funds are via the more speculative ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) rather than traditional mainstream investment funds.