Russian stocks close mixed as oil price, Western bourses fall

MOSCOW, Mar 1 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Thursday in line with the fall of oil prices and a decline of Western bourses, while the fall of the ruble allowed the ruble-denominated MOEX Russia index to outperform slightly the dollar-denominated RTS index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.05% to 2,297.90 and the RTS decreased 0.88% to 1,274.18.

“The Russian stock market continued its downward correction on Thursday following the ‘red’ mood of the Western floors and a slump of oil prices,” Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

“World stock markets were waiting for a new speech of the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s Chairman Jerome Powell…His previous speech made it clear that restoration of the U.S. labor market and the economy allowed the authority to speak about four increases of the base rate in 2018, and it had a noticeable impact on stock bulls and undermined the risk appetite. This fact led to sales in Russian assets,” Kirsanova said.

Yevgeniya Abramovich, head of the currency risks research department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank SA, said that the oil prices slumped 3% to U.S. $64.5 per barrel over the past 24 hours, which resulted in a fall of the Russian ruble that was priced in by the RTS index.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that Russian gas giant Gazprom lost 2.14% to 140.10 rubles after the Stockholm Arbitration Court ruled that it must pay $2.56 billion to Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy.

U.S. company Exxon Mobil decided to withdraw from all projects with oil major Rosneft that are subject to the U.S. and E.U. anti-Russian sanctions, hitting the stock, Kochetkov said. Rosneft lost 2.12% to 323.50 rubles.

Kiranova also said that national air carrier Aeroflot was among the growth leaders gaining 7.42% to 151.95 rubles as investors were pleased with the company’s financial report.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.95	275.00	10.692
Gazprom	-2.14	140.10	6.656
Aeroflot	+7.42	151.95	4.555
Magnit	+4.25	4985.00	4.428
Norilsk Nickel	+0.13	11173.00	2.196

(56.3742 rubles – U.S. $1)

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