Russian stocks close mixed on Christmas preparations, ruble rise

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- The MOEX Russia Index closed with marginal changes on Tuesday in a thin news flow as the Western countries prepared to celebrate Christmas, while strengthening of the ruble favored small growth of the RTS Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia index fell 0.11% to 3,030.59, and the RTS Index grew 1.10% to 1,540.46.

“The Russian market was in the consolidation mode. However, it managed to hit a new high in the first half of the day, making it to 3,040 of the MOEX Russia Index. There were no reason to move as the Russian investors pay little attention to Asia, while Europe has started to celebrate Christmas,” Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that the ruble increased against the U.S. dollar and the euro and reached the lowest rate seen in many weeks.

There was no news on the oil market, according to Kochetkov, besides a poll by Reuters, which signaled that the market expects a 1.8 million barrel reduction of the U.S. commercial oil reserves last week. The U.S. Energy Department will release its report on Friday.

China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang said that the government cut the reserve rules for banks as a way to reduce spending of small companies. The statement can become an additional reason for the markets to expect higher raw material consumption in 2020.

Kozhukhova said that RusHydro was one of the market leaders, growing 1.59% after Fitch confirmed the rating of the company at BBB-.

Surgutneftegas fell after reaching a historical record, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Surgutneftegas	+1.06	52.2	6.461
Gazprom	-0.05	254.87	5.834
Sberbank	-0.05	248.67	5.238
Lukoil	-0.02	6080.5	2.283
Norilsk Nickel	-0.23	19630	1.741

(62.2499 – U.S. $1)

End