Russian stocks close mixed on rebound, ruble fall

MOSCOW, Mar 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Monday as the MOEX Russia Index grew in a technical rebound after recent losses and the RTS Index lost some ground on ruble depreciation, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.40% to 3,489.07 and the RTS decreased 0.44% to 1,467.62.

“The increase was mainly connected to a technical factor, as the local market tried to rebound after a dive it took in the second half of the previous week. At the same time, the external background has been mixed since the very morning. The futures for oil and the U.S. indices don’t show local players a clear direction for opening positions,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said.

The current geopolitical situation is also an obstacle for the Russian stock market. The news that there will be no public online conference of presidents of the U.S. and Russia, but the threat of toughening of external sanctions remains undermined growth. The Russian officials started talking that Russia can be switched off SWIFT, an unsettling signal, he said.

“Still, we have seen several times over the past years that expectations of sanctions are often worse for the stock markets than their actual announcement,” Manzhos said.

“Among international news, a repot about dismissal of the head of Turkey’s central bank had the most noticeable impact on the Russian stock market … The market believes in higher Turkish inflation, and it fuels concerns that inflation may be ‘exported’ to other developing states, which may strengthen inflationary expectations in Russia,” Yevgeny Mironyuk, analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, said.

He added that the RTS Index decreased due to weakening of the ruble’s exchange rate.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that shares of real estate developer PIK Group were among the gain leaders adding 2.19% to 771 rubles on the news that its 2020 revenue grew by 35.5%, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization soared by 67.1%, and the net profit jumped by 91.7%, outperforming all expectations, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.25	289.05	16.888
Gazprom	-1.95	221.00	12.203
Lukoil	+1.18	6150.00	6.902
Norilsk Nickel	+0.04	22694.00	4.101
Rosneft	+0.47	562.95	3.867

(74.1390 rubles – U.S. $1)

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