Russian stocks close mixed on unfavorable environ, ruble fall

MOSCOW, Aug 21 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks closed mixed on Friday as the external background was unfavorable with the European bourses and the oil price falling, while the MOEX Russia Index firmed due to depreciation of the ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.06% to 2,995.61 and the RTS decreased 0.85% to 1,262.01.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index demonstrated no common dynamics at the end of trade. … The market mood on the foreign stock floors was mixed on Friday. The European region was still week, while the U.S. ‘bulls’ tried to maintain their positions,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The U.S. bourses edged up at the end of trading on the Russian market. Investors were cautiously optimistic there as the macroeconomic statistics turned out to be better than expected. The European bourses provided a negative impact to the Russian market as they were in the red due to unimpressive business activity results, while contraction of oil prices only added fuel to the fire, Kozhukhova said.

 “The external stock floors finish the week nervously. In spite of a flow of positive statistics on the U.S. housing market and in spite of the growing industrial PMI index, the U.S. floors froze in place after Friday’s opening. At the same time, asset sale continued in Europe on the news about an increase in (coronavirus) infection cases in Spain and France,” Valery Yemelyanov, analyst at Freedom Finance, said.

But the MOEX Russia Index rose supported by depreciation of the ruble, which fell faster than the RTS Index, Yemelyanov said.

Internet firm Yandex and tech company Mail.Ru Group were the growth leaders rising by 1.05% to 4,749.20 rubles and by 1% to 2,150 rubles, respectively. The market focused on the tech leaders, which may be a delayed reaction to the global trend for growth of IT companies, Yemelyanov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.77	230.70	31.624
Yandex	+1.05	4749.20	11.050
Gazprom	-1.71	183.75	6.040
Norilsk Nickel	-0.19	19950.00	6.024
Lukoil	-1.09	5081.50	5.201

(73.7711 rubles – U.S. $1)

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