Russian stocks close mixed among continued unrest in Ukraine

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday as political and social tensions in Ukraine, weighed over the market, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.28% to 1,444.71, while the RTS rose 0.50% to 1,267.27.

“Foreign investors have been seriously discussing the possibility of a military conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Such a scenario is a kind of a Martian landscape for Russian investors. But they also don’t understand a lot of what is happening in Crimea now,” Mikhail Kuzin, a portfolio manager at Raiffeisen Capital, said in a note.

“Minimum official information, unofficial information of activities of the Russian military forces and Ukraine’s address to the U.N. Security Council have not contributed to an improvement of Russia’s image in investors’ eyes.

Metals and mining group Mechel, whose quotes plunged 24.57% to39.9 rubles, was the loss leader.

“After the recent fall, capitalization of Mechel’s common stocks is at only U.S. $420 million, while its debt is at $9.5 billion. In such a situation, few investors will buy shares since the possibility of converting the debt into shares is very probable,” Kuzin said.

Alexander Razuvayev, director of Alpari’s analytical department, said that the release of U.S. statistical data late on Friday did not change the situation. “All the main movements will happen already next week,” he said.

After the Russian market closes, the U.S. will disclose gross domestic product data for October–December 2013, personal consumption expenditures for the same period, pending home sales for January and Reuters/Michigan consumer sentiment index for February.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.03	139.20	12.458
Sberbank	+1.15	91.16	10.168
Lukoil	-1.95	1963.00	5.757
Norilsk Nickel	+1.87	5980.00	3.054
VTB Bank	-0.75	0.0421	2.075

(36.0501 rubles – U.S. $1)

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