Falling oil prices, weak ruble push Russian stocks down

MOSCOW, Apr 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday pressured by worsened foreign background, including falling oil prices, decreased U.S. stock index futures, and a fall of main European stock indices, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.51% to 1,857.09 and the RTS dropped 1.76% to 846.61.

“The Brent oil price of around U.S. $37.5 per barrel does not add optimism, although there are also no serious reasons for the sell out,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Oil prices are decreasing amid investors’ concerns that oil producers will not be able to agree on the output freeze at the meeting in Doha on April 17, Gleb Zadoya, head of analytical department at Analitika Online, said. 

Falling oil prices led to a decrease in shares of Gazprom by 1.39%, of Rosneft by 1.07%, and of Surgutneftegas by 1.52%, Kochetkov said.

The dollar-denominated RTS index declined amid the ruble’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

The weakened ruble provided support to Russian exporters, including metals companies: RUSAL grew 2.1% and Polyus Gold rose 2.06%, Kochetkov said.

Metals giant Norilsk Nickel closed 2.85% higher on reports about changes in the company’s dividend policy.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.23	106.87	8.076
Norilsk Nickel	+2.85	8700.00	3.750
Gazprom	-1.39	144.34	3.356
Lukoil	+0.24	2698.50	2.870
Magnit	-0.67	10400.00	1.426

(68.6753 rubles – U.S. $1)

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