Russian Investor Statistics - Buying in May

Moscow Exchange has published retail investor statistics for May. Individual investors remained net buyers, bringing R32 bln ($430 mln) into the equity market.> Local mutual funds saw R24 bln of inflows, of which R16 bln ($220 mln) went into Russian equities, we estimate. On the sellers' side, corporates and large shareholders sold $1.1 bln worth of shares in SPOs and ABBs. This means that foreign investors brought $450 mln into the Russian equity market in May. As a reminder, foreign investors had been net sellers in April, withdrawing $500 mln. This reversal was probably due to the reduction in tensions between Russia and the West following the flare-up in April.> The number of individual brokerage accounts continued to grow, reaching 12.2 mln. This growth was slower than in recent months, but this could be due to the calendar affect, as May 1-10 were declared non-working days in Russia.Stock-level data suggests that individual investors were actively buying Gazprom, with the stock regaining the top spot in the aggregate portfolio. Strong local demand helps to explain Gazprom's stellar 17% rise in May. Severstal returned to the top 10, ousting Polymetal.