Report
Andrey Kuznetsov ...
  • Cole Akeson

Retail Investor Statistics - The Return of Foreign Money

Moscow Exchange registered record monthly outflows from retail brokerage accounts in November. Individuals sold R116 bln ($1.5 bln) worth of Russian stocks during the month. This number suggests massive inflows from foreign investors.> The numbers for November represent a departure from the trend seen over the last two years. However, the retail outflows are easy to explain. Vaccine-induced optimism has prompted global investors to start picking up cyclical assets, including Russian stocks. The RTS Index jumped 23% in November. For every buyer there needs to be a seller, so local investors appeared on the offer side. We estimate foreign inflows at $2.5 bln during the month, as retail investors were not the only sellers: there was also a $1 bln IPO. Overall, this development is good news for the market, as foreign purchases leave local retail investors with plenty of cash that they can deploy at any moment.> Stock-level data supports our conclusion. During the month, retail investors more than halved their exposure to Sber commons - the classic Russia proxy for foreign investors. Meanwhile, Mail.ru Group has replaced Yandex in the top 10.> The number of retail brokerage accounts continued to expand rapidly and now exceeds 8 mln. This has further increased the capacity for local investors to buy more stocks.
Underlyings
Mail.ru Group Ltd. Sponsored GDR

Mail.Ru Group is an Internet company based in the Russian Federation. Co. operates the email service [email protected] and two IM networks in Russia - Mail.Ru Agent and ICQ. Co. operates two Russian-language online social networking sites: Moi [email protected] and Odnoklassniki.ru, and owns a strategic minority equity stake in the social network Vkontakte. Co. is also engaged in developing projects in E-commerce and operating more than 40 thematic vertical sites, targeting various user categories. Co. is also Russia's predominant online games company. Co. maintains a portfolio of online games which includes 34 MMO games and over 30 games for social networking sites.

Yandex NV Class A

Yandex is an internet and technology company that operates an internet search engine in Russia. Co. builds intelligent products and services powered by machine learning. Co.'s products and services are based on complex, unique technologies that are not easily replicated. Co. generates substantially all of its revenues from online advertising. Co. also generates revenues from its e-commerce offerings, classifieds and e-hailing service. Co.'s businesses are organized in the following operating segments: Search and Portal; E-commerce; Taxi; Classifieds and Experimental businesses.

Provider
Sberbank
Sberbank

​Sberbank CIB Investment Research is a research firm offering equity, fixed income, economics, and strategy research. It covers analysis on all aspects of Russia’s capital markets, issues and industries. The firm analyzes trends in Russia and combines local knowledge with a global perspective. It processes macroeconomic data, market and company-specific news, stock quotes and other information for providing research reports. The firm provides details and latest prices on the most traded names and most traded paper on all segments Russian market. In strategy research, it provides thematic research, tips and descriptions of the methodology used to evaluate companies.

Analysts
Andrey Kuznetsov

Cole Akeson

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