New US sanctions threat makes Russian stocks lose significantly

MOSCOW, Aug 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market and the ruble declined dramatically on Wednesday as non-resident investors leave the market on new U.S. sanctions threat, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.83% to 2,293.01 and the RTS sagged 2.91% to 1,113.78.

“Although the situation on the global financial market is tense, but stable, non-residents continue to escape from Russian assets on new sanctions threats. At the same time, Russia is not the only stock market hit by U.S. actions,” Vasily Oleinik, investment company Finam analyst, said.

The ruble saw the lowest level in almost two years after Kommersant business daily released what it called the full text of a bill on new U.S. sanctions against Russia which may be slapped soon. The document mentioned a possible full ban of operations of seven Russian banks including major state-owned banks Sberbank, VTB Bank, Vnesheconombank (VEB) and Promsvyazbank.

The ruble slid 1.44 rubles to 64.93 rubles against the U.S. dollar and 1.51 rubles to 75.16 rubles against the euro as of 3:54 p.m. Moscow time.

Sberbank and VTB Bank lost 4.26% to 193.2 rubles and 2.37% to 0.04569 rubles, respectively.

The news that the U.S. Department of State was considering introduction of sanctions against Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the core owner and chairman of the board of directors of Russian multi-industry holding Sistema, pushed the stock down by 2.73% to 8.72 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-4.26	193.2	27.791
Gazprom	+0.95	144.1	3.869
Lukoil	-0.46	4499	2.408
ALROSA	-1.00	98.7	2.343
Norilsk Nickel	0	10830	1.971

(63.5425 rubles – U.S. $1)

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