Russian stocks close mixed as oil price, US dollar slide

MOSCOW, Jun 3 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Friday as falling oil prices and the U.S. dollar prompted an increase of the ruble’s exchange rate and of the RTS index, as well as a contraction of the MICEX index, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.21% to 1,886.84 and the RTS increased 1.89% to 902.64.

The price of Brent oil slid 1.23% to U.S. $49.43 per barrel as of 6.14 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The fall in oil prices acted as the main catalyst for worsening of the mood at the Russian market. It is very difficult for Brent to hold the level of U.S. $50 per barrel after fruitless yesterday’s OPEC summit, as the positive impact from a contraction of the U.S. oil reserves has been priced in and there are no drivers right now,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Weak U.S. labor market statistics resulted in a contraction of the U.S. dollar’s exchange rate. The country’s economy was able to create only 38,000 new jobs, down from 164,000 jobs that were expected, and after that the ruble jumped by more than 1 ruble to below 66 per U.S. dollar even under the contraction of oil prices, Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

Besides the weak job market data, the U.S. ISM Non-Manufacturing index fell to a 15-month low of 52.9 points in May while the market expected it to stand at 55.5 points. This fact also contributed to correction of the MICEX index, Yevgeny Loktyukhov, head of the capital markets analysis department at Promsvyazbank, said.

Statistics from China may have a significant influence on an investor attitude to the oil price in the coming weeks, including releases of an industrial output, retail sales in May, and real estate price data. According to Bloomberg’s consensus, experts expect no worsening of China’s economy, and negative data may cause a wave of contraction at commodity markets, Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Shares of Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) outperformed the market and grew 0.75% to 0.1390 rubles. Investors were still reacting to a Monday recommendation of the company’s board of directors to pay generous 0.0133185 rubles per share in dividends for 2015, which accounts for 9.1% of the paper’s market cost, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Shares of power holding Inter RAO were among the growth leaders today rising 8.72% to 2.15 rubles as investors were pleased with Thursday’s sale of a 100% stake in Georgian affiliate Gardabani Holdings B.V., which owns a 600 megawatt generating plant Mtkvary Energy, Manzhos said.

Shares of Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) increased 4.09% to 25.96 rubles as today was the last day of trading in shares before a dividend cutoff. The European Commission also decided to cut an anti-dumping duty imposed on MMK’s production to 18.7% from 19.8%, Manzhos said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.54	131.59	9.034
Gazprom	-0.41	143.41	4.828
Lukoil	-0.39	2587.00	3.294
FGC UES	+0.75	0.13900	1.546
Norilsk Nickel	-0.74	8859.00	1.327

(66.7491 rubles – U.S. $1)

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