Russian stocks close mixed amid cheaper oil, weak ruble

MOSCOW, Jul 22 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday amid decreasing oil prices, which contributed to the ruble depreciation against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX remained flat at 1,635.63 and the RTS decreased 0.39% to 901.76.

The MICEX index remained under pressure during the day due to falling oil prices, while the RTS index decreased reacting to a weaker ruble, Finam analyst Timur Nigmatullin said.

Brent oil prices fell to slightly above U.S. $56 per barrel on an unexpected growth of the U.S. oil reserves, and the national currency consistently decreased following falling oil prices, he said.

“A publication of relatively weak results of Russian public companies for the second quarter also added some negative sentiment to market players,” the analyst said.

Retailer Magnit closed 3.8% higher after reporting that its net profit grew 29% on the year to 25.225 billion rubles in January–June.

Uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA remained almost flat, falling only 0.01%, after it reported a 60% net profit growth in January–June, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

Russian flagship carrier Aeroflot fell 0.26% despite reporting a 14% increase in the group’s passenger traffic in January–June.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.26	74.60	7.479
Gazprom	-0.43	140.80	3.906
Magnit	+3.77	12177.00	2.721
Lukoil	+0.94	2465.00	2.220
Norilsk Nickel	-1.15	9320.00	1.566

(57.0025 rubles – U.S. $1)

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