Mounting geopolitical risks drag Russian stocks downwards

MOSCOW, Mar 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock indices fell from the support lines of 2,290 and 960 on Thursday amid strengthening geopolitical risks, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.11% to 2,254.3 and the RTS decreased 1.38% to 942.61.

“The Russian stock market spent the day in the negative territory, but bounced back from the day’s lows after the contradiction of statements about an emergency meeting of the Security Council, which is scheduled for Friday,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Foreign bourses demonstrated no unified dynamics ahead of statements of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s officials and important macroeconomic data, planned for Friday, she added.

Kozhukhova also said that the global energy market traded positively with the nearest Brent oil futures adding around 0.5% to U.S. $83.5 per barrel.

Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said that real estate developer Etalon was among the worst performers losing 2.95% after the central bank’s Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina had announced tightening of control over the quality of mortgage loans.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.87	169.04	13.664
Gazprom	-2.01	161.19	8.162
Lukoil	-0.79	4024	3.923
Polyus	-0.88	8860	2.675
Human Stem Cells Institute (HSCI)	-6.77	105.8	2.486

(75.2513 rubles – U.S. $1)

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