Russian stocks close mixed on falling US bourses, oil prices

MOSCOW, Jun 26 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks close mixed on Friday due a negative impact of falling U.S. bourses and oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.04% to 2,761.74 and the RTS decreased 0.83% to 1,246.74.

“At the end of the week the Russian stock market found itself in the red zone following the global bourses. The U.S. stock floors opened flat on Friday, but later switched into contraction of up to 2%. Banks became the drivers of the contraction, as the U.S. Federal Reserve System ordered them to restrict payments of dividends and buybacks,” Valery Yemelaynov, analyst at Freedom Finance, said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index fell at the end of the day due to worsening background, with the U.S. dollar-denominated RTS Index falling sharper due to depreciation of the ruble. The oil prices were among the major contributors to the unfavorable external background as they followed the weakening of the global appetite for risk, she said.

The Brent oil price lost 1.169% to U.S. $40.57 per barrel as of 6.21 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“On Friday, the Russian stock market continued a moderate decrease it started a day earlier. The situation on the energy market prompted sales in our shares. … The negative dynamics of our market was also supported by the Western stock floors. In Europe, the major indices lost up to 0.7% in the evening, and in the U.S., the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 lost 2.1% and 1.7% after the first few hours of trade, respectively,” Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that gas giant Gazprom outperformed the market and grew by 0.45% to 193.11 rubles following the shareholders’ approval of dividends for 2019 at 15.24 rubles per share, meaning that the share’s price to earnings ratio stands at 7.8% at the current price.

National flagship carrier Aeroflot lost 1.19% to 79.62 rubles following the Transport Ministry’s confirmation that the government discussed a share issue in favor of the government and banks, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.45	193.11	11.295
Sberbank	-1.79	203.21	8.986
Norilsk Nickel	-0.60	19730.00	5.147
Lukoil	-1.28	5325.00	3.951
RusHydro	-3.96	0.746	2.617

(69.4660 rubles – U.S. $1)

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