Russian stocks close mixed as oil price resumes decline trend

MOSCOW, Mar 10 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Thursday amid a vague background and on the back of oil prices resuming a declining trend and falling below the psychologically important level of U.S. $40 per barrel at some point, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.09% to 1,884.63 and the RTS decreased 0.17% to 834.24.

“The Russian market was growing the major part of the day backed by the European optimism, but went into the red zone by the end of the day on the back of profit taking on European floors and falling oil prices,” Vasily Tanurkov, deputy head of investment company Veles Capital’s stock market research department, said.

The oil price decline and neutral reaction to the European Central Bank’s stimulus measures, as well as the depreciation of the ruble after testing the level of 70 rubles per dollar led to worsening of moods on the market, Promsvyazbank analyst Yevgeny Loktyukhov said.

The Russian ruble showed major strengthening during the day supporting the dollar-denominated RTS index, but lost its positions as the oil price declined, Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

Rogova believes that Brent oil price will remain in the range of $38–42 per barrel until any decisions by oil producing countries, including OPEC and non-OPEC countries, over the oil output freeze are announced.

Retailer Magnit closed 1.87% higher having reported that its revenue grew 19.46% on the year to 84.002 billion rubles in February.

Gold producer Polyus Gold, which posted a $1.119 billion net profit in 2015 after a $182 million net loss in 2014, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), grew 0.67%.

Power producer Enel Russia closed 1.3% higher despite posting a net loss of 48.629 billion rubles in 2015 against a net profit of 5.582 billion rubles in 2014, under IFRS.

National flagship carrier Aeroflot increased 2.11% on rumors that businessman Arkady Rotenberg could buy a 25% stake in the company, which were, however, denied later, InstForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.64	108.84	10.361
Gazprom	-0.33	146.94	4.622
Lukoil	-1.90	2692.00	3.368
Magnit	+1.87	10900.00	2.711
Rosneft	+1.88	301.55	1.890

(72.3775 rubles – U.S. $1)

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