Russian stocks close flat on ruble stabilization, quiet new flow

MOSCOW, Aug 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with marginal changes on Tuesday, as the ruble stabilized, while the external background and the corporate news were mixed, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 0.77% to 3,164.25, and the RTS index increased by 0.05% to 1,057.56.

"The internal and external background provided no ideas for strong dynamics. The ruble did not affect the shares either, since it has been able to stabilize lately and was trading in a relatively narrow range," Otkritie Broker’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

Lukoil jumped on media reports about a plan of a 25% stake buyback from non-residents, the analyst said.

The shares of Ozon Holdings shrugged off the news that the Nasdaq kept in force a decision to delist the American depositary shares of the company and grew 2.85%, he said.

According to Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova, a rise in the 2023 sales forecast to 70% from 60% supported the shares.

Yandex grew 1.06% after starting to sell furniture under own brand. "It is assumed that the niche earlier filled by Ikea will be the target audience. Besides, there was information that former employees of the Swedish company were hired by the sales office," Kochetkov said.

Kozhukhova said that Seligdar rose 4.98% after getting a license for the development of sides of the Kyuchusskoye ore field.

The construction sector continued to recover after a decline of the previous week on the back of a soaring demand on new houses ahead of a loan interest rate rise.

The Brent price sagged about 0.5% to about U.S. $84.20 in the middle of the Russian session. The European and U.S. market mood was positive and moderately positive respectively, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	+4.81	6567	31.543
Sberbank	+0.02	261.2	5.300
Magnit	-0.19	5906.5	4.240
NCSP	-2.41	15.4	2.954
Sovcomflot	-2.19	110.46	2.926

(94.1424 rubles – U.S. $1)

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