Russian stocks close mixed following trade in oil

MOSCOW, Oct 8 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Monday as oil prices firmed and without looking at the unfavorable external background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.14% to 2,454.28 and the RTS decreased 0.09% to 1,158.25.

“The Russian stock market made futile attempts to grow at the beginning of the day, switched to the red zone, and remained there for the major part of the trading day. But the MOEX Russia Index managed to regain the lost ground and break into the green zone in the evening thanks to improving oil prices and despite a negative mood at most external markets,” Veles Capital’s analyst Alexei Adonin, said.

Yevgenia Abramovich, head of the currency risks analysis department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank S.A, said that long holidays in the U.S. reduced buyer activity on the Russian stock market by about one third as compared to average figures of the previous week.

“The external background is negative. The Chinese shares plummeted 3.5–4% as the Chinese yuan weakened due to a decision of the Chinese authorities to continue softening conditions for banks. The Italian government, led by populists, refused to comply with the E.U. demands while planning their budget, and the European stock indices lost more than 0.8% during the day,” Freedom Finance’s analyst Anastasia Sosnova said.

Vasily Oleinik, investment company Finam’s analyst, also said that the market players were concerned with the situation on the debt markets of the U.S. and Europe.

“The buyers are nowhere to be seen, and the yields continue to grow. We don’t rule out that prices for U.S. treasuries will fall due to the sales by China, but we will hear about that later. If China really decided to sell the entire $1 trillion it had invested in U.S. treasuries, we all should get ready to very unfavorable consequences for all financial markets,” Oleinik said.

Abramovich also said that oil major Rosneft lost 4.68% before the dividend cut-off date.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.48	191.85	15.451
Gazprom	+0.77	171.81	4.196
Rosneft	-4.68	479.45	2.426
Lukoil	-0.42	4966.00	1.898
Magnit	-1.54	3771.00	1.307

(66.6270 rubles – U.S. $1)

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