Russian stocks close mixed on ruble’s strengthening

MOSCOW, Jul 8 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday mainly because of strengthening of the ruble against other currencies, which resulted in the RTS Index outperforming the MOEX Russia Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.19% to 2,222.51 and the RTS increased 1.09% to 1,144.79.

“The MOEX Russia Index was in the red zone on Friday, July 8, because of the ruble growth. At the same time, the RTS Index grew using the strengthening tendency of the Russian currency, which is only logical,” analysts of Otkritie Research said in a research note.

The external background also did not provide strong drivers, as the European markets rose, while the future for the U.S. stock indices fell during the day. The oil price fell in the morning, but switched to growth after the release of the U.S. labor market statistics, Otkritie Research said.

“Consolidation prevailed on the foreign stock bourses on Friday … The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index did not show significant changes as they lost support of dividends while we are getting close to the season of semiannual reports, which may bring worrisome forecasts for some companies,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The shares of Beluga Group, one of Russia’s largest vodka producers, gained 4.61% to 2,520 rubles on the news that its sales rose by 13.6% on the year in January–June, with the sales of the company’s own products growing by 11%, Kozhukhova said.

Otkritie Research also said that the shares of coal producer Raspadskaya rose by 6.52% to 297.50 rubles as the company’s net profit grew by 9.56% on the year to 28.9 billion rubles in January–June, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.04	198.00	5.743
Sberbank	+0.16	133.30	3.657
Rosneft	-3.77	351.20	2.000
Lukoil	-1.14	3911.00	1.412
MTS	+0.75	275.05	1.164

(63.1427 rubles – U.S. $1)

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