Oil price fall, negative environment weigh upon Russian stocks

MOSCOW, Jan 9 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Monday following oil prices and an unfavorable external background, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.12% to 2,211.25 and the RTS decreased 1.05% to 1,160.27.

“The MICEX made some attempts to grow at the beginning of the trading day, but it switched to new sales…The index was under pressure of falling oil prices…The dynamics of oil prices were prompted by the January 6 data that showed an increase of drilling rigs in the U.S. and also by information that Iran has increased its oil exports,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

The Brent oil price slid 2.55% to U.S. $55.68 per barrel as of 6.17 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The Russian stock market started its first full-scale trading week with contraction. The unfavorable external background prompted sales in Russian assets. The ‘bearish’ mood prevails on the energy market…the European floors are also falling, and losses of main indices amounted to more than 0.4%,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that fertilizer producer Acron outperformed the market and gained 1.03% to 3,430 rubles after it posted an almost 2% increase of its net profit on the year to 14.539 billion rubles in January–September 2016, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.37	168.35	5.978
Gazprom	+0.19	154.40	2.000
Rosneft	+0.38	394.00	1.758
Magnit	-0.74	10819.00	1.526
Lukoil	+0.58	3384.50	1.024

(60.6569 rubles – U.S. $1)

End