Russian stocks close flat on lack of corporate news

MOSCOW, Aug 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market consolidated near the opening levels on Friday in thin trade because of a lack of corporate news, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.64% to 3,157.33, and the RTS index added 0.03% to 1,043.84.

"The Russian market edged up in the first half of the day on Friday. The ruble strengthened a bit and pressured the ruble index (the MOEX Russia Index). There was almost no corporate news. The volume on the Moscow Exchange merely reached 19.4 billion rubles by the middle of the session," Otkritie Broker leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

M.Video–Eldorado dove 4.27% after presenting a "quite solid" report for April–June with the gross merchandise value rising by 26.4%, he said. Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that a net loss widening by 24% and a decline of revenue by 18% in January–June defined the trend in the shares.

Novatek started declining after a dividend proposal by the board of directors with the amount set at 34.5 rubles per share for January–June, Kochetkov said, but corrected upwards adding 0.32% at the end of the session.

Sberbank increased slightly on a statement by the executives that the windfall profit tax on the bank would amount to only 3 billion rubles, rather than 10 billion rubles estimated in April.

Kozhukhova said that the Russian market recovered upwards after losing positions for several sessions.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.53	261	6.359
Lukoil	-0.02	6560	4.333
Sovcomflot	+2.49	114.95	3.143
Magnit	+0.79	5911.5	2.818
VTB	+1.07	0.02792	2.724

(94.4007 rubles – U.S. $1)

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