Coronavirus woes, oil price fall push Russian stocks down

MOSCOW, Feb 21 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks fell on Friday due to fresh worries about the coronavirus outbreak, lower oil prices, and worsening situation in Syria, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.61% to 3,106.03 and the RTS decreased 0.72% to 1,524.71.

“The national market is still under the influence of the news about the coronavirus outbreak. The number of new cases slowed down in China, but started growing rapidly in the neighboring countries. Correspondingly, the market is now concerned about not only the Chinese economy, but the global one as well,” Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Yaroslav Kabakov, director for strategy at investment company Finam, said another reason for the fall was deterioration of tension in Syria.

“Mass media are not keen on bringing this problem to the spotlight, but the ruble clearly reflects the higher risk and potential threats for Russia if the Syrian and Turkish militaries clash and the conflict escalates,” Kabakov said.

The second reason for the sales on the market is falling oil prices with the Brent losing less than 2%, he said.

Kochetkov said that the risk appetite was low and defensive assets rose. Precious metals producers Polyus and Polymetal International gained 3.75% to 8,507.50 rubles and 3.74% to 1,121.40 rubles, respectively.

Shares of oil major Rosneft lost 1.84% to 461.75 rubles not only due to the contraction in oil prices, but also thanks to reports about compensations to Belarus for the consequences of the Russian oil tax maneuver, Kochetkov said.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Friday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.26	250.80	6.926
Gazprom	-1.11	232.00	6.900
Lukoil	-1.43	6450.00	3.977
Novatek	-1.10	1094.20	2.993
Rosneft	-1.84	461.75	2.789

(63.7413 rubles – U.S. $1)

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