Ukrainian shares rise in Warsaw ahead Riyadh talks, but Eurobond market downbeat

MOSCOW. March 24 (Interfax) - The WIG-Ukraine index of Ukrainian shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) rose 3.95% to 643.70 on Friday ahead of talks between Ukraine-U.S. and U.S.-Russian delegations in Riyadh scheduled for Monday, and approached the 650.96 points reached on Tuesday last week, its highest level since the beginning of the crisis, ahead of the talks between the U.S. and Russian presidents, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian media reported, citing WSE data, that shares in Milkiland rose 4.48%, the agroholdings Agroton and IMC grew 2.25% and 1.75%, respectively, KSG-Agro was up 2.97% and the country's largest sugar producer Astarta went up 4.80%.

Shares in Coal Energy, also part of the index, rose 15.48%.

On the London Stock Exchange (LSE), where retail investors have less influence than on the WSE, shares in Ukraine's biggest poultry producer, MHP, were unchanged at $6.1. Shares in the second-largest chicken producer, UVESA, surged in the morning, to $6.4 following the announcement of the purchase of a 41% stake, valuing the whole company at about 400 million euros.

Shares in mining company Ferrexpo fell 10.83% on the LSE due to more problems with law enforcement and tax authorities in Ukraine, who suspended the company's VAT refund.

But the Ukrainian Eurobond market ended the week on a downbeat note ahead of Monday's talks in Saudi Arabia: according to Frankfurt Stock Exchange data, prices were either little changed or fell 0.2-1.6%, while GDP warrants declined by 0.64%.