The PFTS reacted with no surprise to Tymoshenko’s return to government as prime minister

rprise to Yulia Tymoshenko’s return to government as prime minister on Dec. 18. The PFTS Index grew by nearly 1 percentage point on the exchange, which has seen over $1 billion traded in the first nine months of the year. Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital, which managed more than a third of trades on the PFTS in that period, said that global volatility will be offset by lower domestic political uncertainty and that “consumer stocks… may benefit from the return of the Orange parties to power.”

Meanwhile, Alfa Capital Ukraine views Tymoshenko’s return as potentially negative for energy distribution companies. “We think Tymoshenko will not give priority to reforming the national electricity industry, as her government appears to lack professionals in this field and also because she introduced only superficial changes in this industry as PM in 2005,” according to Alfa analysts.

But Dragon reported that newly-appointed Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Prodan helped Tymoshenko clean up Ukraine’s murky electricity sector, eradicating “barter on the energy market when she was deputy PM in 2000-2001.”

Alfa’s analysts said that the Tymoshenko government “is likely to preside over a period of strained relations with Gazprom over natural gas import terms, while enjoying favorable external conditions, as demand for key export goods is likely to be strong.”

Investment bank Concorde Capital analyst Nick Piazza is not expecting much more from parliament this year. After the formation of a new government, legislators will break for winter recess, he said. “The top issues for the agenda in 2008 will be land law reform, setting the budget, WTO entry and privatization.”

ING said as economy minister, Bohdan Danylyshyn will be in charge of handling trade-related issues, including WTO and free-trade agreements with the EU and the Russian Federation,” while returning veteran Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk “will be responsible for a wide range of fiscal-related issues, including borrowings.”