Russian stocks close mixed on mixed drivers from abroad

MOSCOW, Oct 12 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks closed mixed on Monday as the market received mixed signals from the external background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.43% to 2,846.14 and the RTS decreased 0.12% to 1,162.91.

“The U.S. and European indices were mostly in the green zone in spite of uncertainty around the stimulus package from the U.S. Congress. … The Asian floors also grew more than 2% today supporting demand for the assets of emerging countries. But the oil price acted as a negative factor today,” investment company Freedom Finance’s analyst Valery Yemelyanov said.

The Brent oil price lost 2.94% to U.S. $41.59 per barrel as of 6.34 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“Under the influence of these two contradictory factors, the Russian market moved sideways today,” Yemelyanov said.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, said that the Russian market attempted to grow in correction, but the background was mixed.

“On the one hand, the situation on the energy market exerted pressure on the Russian shares … but on the other hand, the Western bourses supported purchases in our shares,” Zvarich said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that diamond mining giant ALROSA was among the gain leaders adding 3.24% to 77.85 rubles as investors priced in the results of a meeting of the company’s CEO with President Vladimir Putin and optimistic expectations of diamond sales in October–December.

Shares of gold producer Petropavlovsk Plc lost 2.98% to 30.98 rubles as the security was under short-term pressure following its October 9 downgrade of production forecasts and upgrade of expectations of costs for 2020, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.10	205.58	10.375
Gazprom	+1.22	169.00	6.342
Norilsk Nickel	+0.12	19474.00	6.178
Yandex	+1.02	4731.00	3.963
Lukoil	+0.04	4453.50	2.540

(77.0284 rubles – U.S. $1)

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