Last week, the Russian stock indices have updated yearly highs. For the week MICEX index gained 2.8%, while the RTS went up by 3.3%. According to EPFR weekly global funds inflows to Russian stocks stood at $109 mln, marking unwavering trend of ongoing inflows in to the emerging markets. For the first time since May last year, oil (Brent) prices exceeded $ 120/barr as media speculated on Iran ceasing its’ oil supply to the six EU countries and the regional military risks remaining far above the ground.

By the end of the week the negotiations between Greece and its creditors got ever more transparent - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime M. Monti and Greek Prime Minister L. Papademos held a conference call on Friday, during which they have rather sanguinely assessed the prospects of resolving the issues outstanding at Feb 20 meeting. Eurogroup is expected to approve the second bailout programme and debt swap scheduled for February 22 - March 9. Furthermore, Greece is to use CACs in order to make debt swap obligatory for all of its bondholders, save for ECB, that is expected to steer clear of losses by the means of exchanging its Greek bonds holdings into similar premises not subject to CAC. As a result, the chances that Greece gets aid and shuns likely default gradually pick up, fueling the market with positive sentiment. The economy data coming from the US (initial jobless claims, building starts, CPI) was also conducive for the global markets arena.