Russian stocks close mixed on bad news from Asia, rising oil

MOSCOW, Sep 10 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks eased on Thursday as negative news from Asia supported a general downward trend of the MICEX index, while a rising oil price pushed the ruble and the RTS index higher, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.20% to 1,718.90 and the RTS increased 0.48% to 800.49.

The Brent oil price rose 1.45% to U.S. $48.28 per barrel as of 6.31 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The Russian stock market demonstrated increased volatility on Thursday. On the one hand, the market was under a negative influence from Asian and European indices which traded much lower …On the other hand, the Russian market was supported by oil,” Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said.

Stock indices were under pressure from China’s macro-statistics, which showed the country’s inflation at 2% in August, exceeding market expectations of 1.8%, and producer price index falling by 5.9%, the most significant figure since 2009. But oil prices increased after the U.S. reported a fall in average daily oil output, Kostyukov said.

“Today dynamics of Russian stocks was moderate. Investors abstained from active trading until the results of the central bank’s Friday meeting, when the regulator is to discuss its key rate, are announced,” Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

There was little corporate news, and the market reacted to previous announcements.

Retailer Magnit lost 2.92% to 11,420 rubles Wednesday’s report that its revenue rose 20.76% on the year in August, which indicates a slowdown taking into account that in January–August the company’s revenue increased 27.98%.

National flag carrier Aeroflot grew 1.97% to 35.66 rubles in a rebound after a slump. The company’s shares lost over 15% in several previous days on the news of an acquisition of 75% plus one share in troubled airline Transaero.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.47	74.30	6.924
Gazprom	-0.85	142.99	3.555
Magnit	-2.92	11420.00	2.161
Lukoil	-0.49	2489.00	2.154
Norilsk Nickel	-1.51	10931.00	1.906

(67.6219 rubles – U.S. $1)

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