Russian stocks close mixed on ruble dynamics over cbank’s key rate

MOSCOW, Oct 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday affected by the ruble growth following an unexpected increase of the key rate by the central bank, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell by 0.51% to 4,196.96 and the RTS increased by 0.53% to 1,877.99.

“The Russian stock indices tried to grow from the trade session’s lowest points on improvement of internal and external factors. … The RTS Index showed a higher increase thanks to the ruble,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The ruble grained more than 1% against the U.S. dollar and the euro after the central bank increased the key rate for a sixth consecutive time. The regulator also stressed strengthening of the pro-inflationary factors and upgraded its forecast for Russia’s inflation in 2021 to 7.4–7.9% from 5.7–6.2%, and did not rule out new increases of the rate in 2021, Kozhukhova said.

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investment, said that the foreign market mood was good in the morning thanks to Thursday’s contraction of oil prices. Even though the fall was not deep, it prompted hopes that energy prices may stabilize. The additional positive momentum came from the report that Chinese developer Evergrande made a key payment that would allow it to avoid a default.

“Closer to the end of the trading session, our market lost some ground in reaction to the downward momentum of the global trade floors and oil. The unexpectedly rough decision of the central bank to raise the key rate by 0.75 percentage points at a time when the consensus forecast expected a 0.5 percentage point increase exerted additional pressure on the Russian shares,” Babin said.

Kozhukhova also said that shares of coal producer Raspadskaya slightly outperformed the market and lost only 0.21% to 449.10 rubles as the company’s operating performance pleased investors. The coal output fell by 2% on the quarter, but grew by 4% on the year to 4.983 million tonnes in July–September and rose by 13% to 16.6 million tonnes in January–September.

Shares of gold producers Polyus and Polymetal International rose by 1.80% to 14,266 rubles and 1.28% to 1,369.10 rubles as the gold price leaped above U.S. $1,810 per ounce, the highest point since September, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.40	358.29	15.252
Sberbank	-0.03	364.50	8.900
Lukoil	-0.36	7206.00	5.069
Norilsk Nickel	-1.43	22878.00	3.908
Moscow Exchange	+0.13	170.90	2.961

(70.9904 rubles – U.S. $1)

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