Russian stocks close mixed as ruble, oil prices increase

MOSCOW, Oct 19 (PRIME) -- Russia’s MICEX stock index closed with marginally negative changes on Wednesday because investors were waiting for the outcome of a meeting of the Normandy Four over the Ukrainian crisis and the ruble growth offset attractive oil prices, while the ruble-independent RTS index grew, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.08% to 1,967.50 and the RTS rose 0.84% to 995.23.

“The intraday technical picture in the MICEX index seems to be neutral. The current influence of the external background on the local stock market can also be appraised as neutral. Some increase of oil futures’ price turned out to be balanced by a strengthening of the Russian currency,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

According to Manzhos, Russian investors were also waiting for statements from a meeting of the Normandy Four, Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany, over the state of affairs in the easternmost zones of Ukraine.

The outcomes of the meeting are expected to be known only late in the evening. “Besides, the future position of Western states regarding a possible introduction of new sanctions against Russia will depend on the manner of the dialogue about Syria and Ukraine,” Manzhos said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the Higher School of Economics, which usually has a pessimistic view on the Russian economy, issued a report on Wednesday, saying that the economy demonstrates treats of a possible end of the recession, this fact is somewhat positive for Russian stock market bulls.

Oil price decline risks outweighed the factor of an appealing price of more than U.S. $52 per barrel, which is why the Russian industry leaders, Rosneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas, as well as Gazprom were falling, Kochetkov said.

Mechel kept on rising, closing with a 5.97% rise to 98.7 rubles per share, remaining in the group of market leaders amid an improvement of the financial results, Kochetkov said.

Coal companies continued rising on the back of a coal price increase, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.58	148.6	4.739
Gazprom	-0.24	135.49	1.602
Magnit	+0.31	10567	1.280
Lukoil	-0.07	3048	1.079
Surgutneftegas	-0.73	27.75	1.036

(62.8900 rubles – U.S. $1)

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