Russian stocks close flat on Ukraine anxiety, high oil prices

MOSCOW, May 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed virtually flat on Wednesday because investors took a cautious approach amid the continuing Ukrainian crisis, while high oil prices were a supporting factor for the market, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.28% to 1,389.11, and the RTS increased 0.54% to 1,261.01.

“In general, there is no strong trend now, investors do not really know what to do, while the anxiety over the Ukrainian political crisis is still there,” Metropol analyst Sergei Filchenkov said.

After the noon on Wednesday, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, “people’s mayor” of the city of Slavyansk, rebel stronghold in the Ukraine’s east, announced his decision to make an attack against Kiev-controlled military forces.

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel has agreed to give representatives of the pro-Russian South-East of Ukraine admission to multilateral negotiations on pacifying the political crisis in the country, which was a positive sign for Russian investors, Zerich Capital Management senior analyst Oleg Dushin said.

“Traders are reluctant to continue proactive purchases after a more than two-week market gain. The market needs a period of rest to start a new growth wave,” BCS Express analyst Ivan Kopeikin said.

Brent price rose 0.42% to U.S. $109.77 per barrel as of 6.05 p.m. Moscow time, which was another bullish factor for the Russian market, Kopeikin said.

The euro zone’s industrial output fell 0.3% in March, and consumer prices in Germany went down 0.2% in April, which influenced the Russian traders’ choice to avoid large purchases on Wednesday, Kopeikin said.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.53	81.38	10.950
Gazprom	+1.02	139.87	6.570
VTB	-0.31	0.04466	3.113
Lukoil	-1.07	1910.9	2.568
Sberbank pref	-2.33	67.50	1.368

(34.8789 rubles – U.S. $1)

End