Russian stocks close lower on Brent, ruble fall, Fitch downgrade

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Monday following the fall of the ruble and the Brent price and the downgrade of the country’s rating by Fitch, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.14% to 1,513.22 and RTS decreased 3.32% to 756.63.

Sergei Filchenkov, analyst at Metropol, said that prices fell mostly because of the national currency weakening by 6.5 rubles against the U.S. dollar and by 5.99 rubles against the euro and Brent falling to below U.S. 47 per barrel.

International rating agency Fitch downgraded Russia’s sovereign credit rating, both in foreign and local currency, to BBB- from BBB, with a negative outlook.

“The cut of the sovereign rating by Fitch enforced negative expectations of investors, including those concerning a possible downgrade of Russia’s rating by Standard & Poors to below investment grade,” Filchenkov said, adding that the downgrade had a lesser impact than the ruble and the Brent price.

The MICEX fall was partly offset by a rise in the retail and metals segment, caused by the ruble depreciation and inflationary expectations, Timur Nigmatullin, Finam’s analyst, said.

Metals exporters became growth leaders, including NLMK, which increased 3.27% to 70.12 rubles per share and Norilsk Nickel, which rose 1.02% to 9,839 rubles per share

Retail growth leaders included Magnit, which rose 1.39% to 10,689 rubles per share.

Companies which decreased on the ruble and Brent fall included VTB Bank, which fell 2.73% to 0.06353 rubles per share and Gazprom Neft, which fell 2.39% to 143.1 rubles per share.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.32	62.90	6.252
Gazprom	-1.04	140.22	3.577
Lukoil	+0.65	2477.00	2.248
Magnit	+1.39	10689.00	1.754
VTB	-2.73	0.06353	1.350

(56.2376 rubles – U.S. $1)

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