Falling Surgutneftegas, Lukoil drag Russian stocks down

MOSCOW, Oct 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks fell on Monday as two major oil companies – Surgutneftegas and Lukoil – pushed them down, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.57% to 2,856.91 and the RTS decreased 0.65% to 1,411.92.

Lukoil CEO Vagit Alekperov denied a recent report that Surgutneftegas planned to acquire a stake in Lukoil, buying shares from Alekperov in the first place. Surgutneftegas grew significantly in the past week.

As a result, Surgutneftegas fell 4.25% to 44.60 rubles, while Lukoil decreased 3.29% to 5,916 rubles.

A downward correction of oil prices also did not improve the background for the Russian market. The Brent oil price lost 0.682% to U.S. $61.60 per barrel as of 6.44 p.m. Moscow time.

“Oil prices correct downwards after rapid growth of almost 5% last week…Data of Baker Hughes on reduction of active drilling rigs by a record 17 did not manage to add growth momentum to the prices,” Dmitry Bedenkov, head of the research department at investment company Russ-Invest, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that shares of metals giant Norilsk Nickel showed the highest growth among the blue chips rising 2.99% to 17,714 rubles. Indonesia banned exports of nickel ore as exporters tried to bypass the quotas, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Surgutneftegas	-4.25	44.60	13.274
Lukoil	-3.29	5916.00	11.206
Sberbank	-1.24	237.03	9.353
Gazprom	-0.94	244.40	8.616
Norilsk Nickel	+2.99	17714.00	8.434

(63.9966 rubles – U.S. $1)

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