Russian stocks close mixed on low global investors’ activity

MOSCOW, Nov 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market consolidated higher during the day and closed mixed on Thursday amid low global investors’ activity due to Thanksgiving celebration in the U.S. and a generally positive foreign background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.07% to 3,947.82 and the RTS increased 0.31% to 1,665.74.

“The Russian stock market tried to recover from previous losses, but low volatility did not encourage bulls. As a result, volatility almost disappeared in the second half of the day,” Senior Trader at managing company Alfa-Capital Vladislav Silayev said.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the MOEX Russia and the RTS indices consolidated in the positive territory during the day, but failed to break through the psychologically important levels of 4,000 and 1,700.

She also said that restrained optimism prevailed on global markets, except for crude prices. The U.S. market was closed for Thanksgiving so investors’ activity was low. Russian stocks were mainly driven by corporate stories.

Global depositary receipts (GDRs) of TCS Group, which includes Tinkoff Bank, jumped 4.6% following publication of a sound financial report for July–September.

Grocery retailer Magnit added 2.55% on the news that MSCI plans to increase the share of Magnit’s stocks available for foreign investors to 0.70 from 0.65.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.09	338	15.512
Sberbank	-1.24	317.25	13.017
Lukoil	-2	6678.5	6.674
TCS Group	+4.6	7205	3.354
Surgutneftegas	-1.38	40.5	2.759

(74.3726 rubles – U.S. $1)

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