Russian stocks close almost flat on Western Good Friday

MOSCOW, Apr 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed almost flat on Friday as almost all international bourses were closed due to the Catholic Easter holidays, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.12% to 2,563.90 and the RTS decreased 0.12% to 1,260.82.

“On Friday, the Russian stock market was trading in absolute solitude in minimum volumes and without any significant changes. The rest of the world waits out the Good Friday. No significant news emerged over the past 24 hours, so the closure of the week and of the day was calm,” Vasily Oleinik, expert at investment company Finam, said.

The report of Special Counsel Robert Mueller published on Thursday did not contain any obvious proof of Russia’s meddling with the U.S. elections, and no new sanction risks emerged for Russian assets, Oleinik said.

Andrei Kochetkov, Otkritie Broker’s analyst, said that the trade volume on the Russian stock exchange was very low with only dividend news causing any movement.

Steelmaker Severstal gained 1.18% to 1,047.60 rubles as the company’s board of directors recommended paying 35.43 rubles per share in January–March dividends, while power producer Enel Russia grew 1.74% to 1.0505 rubles as its board recommended paying 0.141471 rubles in final dividends for 2018, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.08	232.60	2.863
Gazprom	+0.48	162.57	0.624
Rosneft	-0.84	432.00	0.505
Lukoil	-0.14	5602.00	0.470
Sberbank prefs	+0.77	202.15	0.446

(64.0688 rubles – U.S. $1)

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