Market uncertainty drags Russian stocks downwards

MOSCOW, Nov 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market demonstrated negative dynamics on Thursday on a new fall in crude prices, profit-taking and a lack of new ideas, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.30% to 3,221.05 and the RTS decreased 0.26% to 1,148.97.

“The Russian stock market opened the trading session with weak mixed dynamics, but then the quotations reversed downwards… The fall was caused by uncertainty about the reasons for a delay of the OPEC+ monitoring committee’s planned meeting to November 30 from November 26, which triggered a fall in oil prices,” Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

“The ruble’s unstable rate influenced the RTS index negatively,” she added.

Metals and mining group Mechel’s preferred shares were among the best performers after publication of sound operating results for July–September.

Precious metals producer Polymetal International was among the outsiders on the news the company wants to delist from the Moscow Exchange.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the Russian market was pressured by profit-taking in some shares and a lack of new ideas.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Mechel	-0.38	312.9	11.142
Sberbank	-0.13	285.79	7.228
Polymetal International	-12.05	492	5.031
UWC	-36.87	22.6	3.735
Mechel prefs	+0.47	359.7	2.809

(88.1648 rubles – U.S. $1)

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