Russian stock fall as global investors flee from risky assets

MOSCOW, Aug 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down significantly on Friday following the global negative trend with investors fleeing from risky assets on rising trade war threats, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index lost 2% to 2,674.90 and the RTS fell 3.95% to 1,239.19.

“The Russian stock market demonstrated confidently negative dynamics thanks to the foreign background. The newswire of the second part of the week pressured risky assets including domestic stocks. Simultaneously, there was a slide on the energy market,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

The Brent crude price tested a U.S. $61 per barrel mark, a 1.5-month low, and is currently seen at below $63 per barrel. European stock exchanges fell up to 3.5%, and the major U.S. benchmarks have gapped down by around 1% at the opening, Zvarich added.

Yury Kravchenko, Director of investment company Veles Capital’s department, said that the markets were highly pressured by statements of U.S. President Donald Trump that he would impose a 10% tariff on the remaining $300 billion of Chinese imports starting September 1, after negotiators failed to make progress in U.S.–China trade talks.

Sberbank, the most liquid local stock, was among the main losers dropping 3.79% to 220.81 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.79	220.81	21.169
Gazprom	-2.72	227.91	13.653
Lukoil	-1.73	5130	5.304
VTB Bank	-1.22	0.042015	2.611
Rosneft	-1.82	411.75	2.060

(63.8340 rubles – U.S. $1)

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