Russian stocks close mixed as investors wait for news

MOSCOW, Mar 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday in spite of a favorable external background as investors were wary waiting for more news, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.24% to 2,828.01 and the RTS decreased 0.72% to 1,348.19.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index showed no common dynamics at the end of trade and recovered from intra-day lows,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

However, the market background was positive. The U.S. bourses opened higher, the European floors ended the day in the green zone, and even oil prices grew after Saudi Arabia offered an additional oil output reduction of up to 1 million barrels per day instead of a previously expected 600,000-barrel reduction.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index remained below the closest resistance levels of 2,850 and 1,370 at the end of the day, which shows wariness of players for a rise. The market has got close to the breaking point where it has to decide whether to continue the short-term correctional increase or not,” Kozhukhova said.

“The national market started the day in uncertainly, falling to as low as 2,780 points of the MOEX Russia Index at one point. But a high yield is a good reason for Russian investors not to feel obliged to follow the U.S. pessimists, and the market turned upward later in the day,” Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Kochetkov also said that precious metals producer Polymetal Interantional gained 3.33% to 1,099.70 rubles on a report of a 31% net profit growth in 2019, he said.

Shares of children goods retailer Detsky Mir lost 3.06% to 109.16 rubles as the securities were under pressure following reports about a replacement of its CEO, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.73	200.00	15.857
Sberbank	-0.57	235.27	12.738
Lukoil	+2.19	5908.50	9.403
Norilsk Nickel	+0.20	20756.00	5.043
Rosneft	+2.45	415.95	3.742

(66.4437 rubles – U.S. $1)

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