Russian stocks close mixed on sanctions, dividend news

MOSCOW, May 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday because a positive dividend news flow supported the national shares while the geopolitical background and the sanctions news provided a negative momentum, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.26% to 2,626.16 and the RTS increased 0.31% to 1,036.60.

“The trade on the Russian stock market started with a slight fall, and then it switched to a muted mixed dynamics," Freedom Finance Global’s leading analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

"A contradictory news flow continued defining the trends in the Russian shares. Releases of robust financial results and decisions of some companies regarding the dividend payments, as well as the commodities prices, are positive factors, but a tense geopolitical background still exerts pressure on the shares,” she said.

In particular, the shares of real estate developer LSR Group were among the leaders today gaining 18.04% to 675.4 rubles, after the board of directors recommended paying 78 rubles per share in 2022 dividends, meaning a yield of 11.5%, Milchakova said.

“The oil price resumed a growth, and the moods of players on the global stock exchanges were mainly positive. At the same time, the Russian market faced mixed drivers in the form of new sanctions from the E.U. and the U.S. and dividend payments by large companies,” Ivan Kapustyansky from managing company Pervaya said.

The shares of precious metals producers Polymetal and Polyus sank by 10.69% to 585.1 rubles and 3.26% to 10,000 rubles, respectively, after the U.S. slapped sanctions on the companies.

“A G7 summit started in Japan’s Hiroshima. One of the major topics of the upcoming restrictions on Russia is a ban on Russian diamonds and creation of a mechanism to track their sales. It obviously does not involve the countries that ignore the risks of secondary sanctions. For instance, India could turn a deaf ear to the restrictions as it is one of the largest diamond markets,” Otkritie Broker’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

Nevertheless, talks about the sanctions on diamonds led to diamond mining giant ALROSA losing 0.94% to 66.26 rubles, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Yandex	+9.37	2223.2	13.310
Sberbank	-0.35	230.89	6.482
Gazprom	-0.74	173.97	4.809
VTB	+0.54	0.023335	4.400
Polymetal	-10.69	585.1	4.128

(80.0366 rubles – U.S. $1)

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