Russian stocks close mixed supported by oil prices

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Tuesday as the RTS index was supported by the growth of oil prices, while the MICEX index was under pressure from a negative external background, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.07% to 1,975.80 and the RTS increased 28% to 974.82.

The external background worsened after the U.S. published statistics for new housing and industrial output, which supported the U.S. dollar and weighed on the oil prices, Vasily Tanurkov, deputy head of the stock market research department at investment company Veles Capital, said.

“Nevertheless, oil clawed back earlier gains by the end of trade and came close to a U.S. $49 per barrel level.”

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that during the day the ruble-denominated MICEX index reached a record high of 1,994.33.

“The morning started with modest sales, but later the background and the growth of oil prices changed the situation,” he said.

But the background was still mixed, as oil prices rose simultaneously with a significant contraction of the European stock indices, while U.S. stock index futures had been in the red zone since morning, Vitaly Manhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Worries about the conditions of the world economy pressured the Russian market. “The Chinese economy still shows signs of major risks. The country’s external debt is growing, and an increase of overdue debt in the banking sector is close. Tuesday’s statistics confirmed negative tendencies, as China’s budget revenue grew 6.5% in January–July, while spending increased by 13%,” Vasily Oleinik, an analyst at ITinvest, said.

Besides China, a crisis may erupt in the Eurozone’s banking industry at any moment, as not only Italian, but French and German banks experience problems. But the banking sector of Greece and Cyprus, where bad loans amount to 40%, are in the worst state, Oleinik added.

Low-liquid shares of Novorossiysk Grain Terminal increased 6.34% to 285 rubles after the Federal Antimonopoly Service approved a request of Russian Grain Union to raise its stake in the company to 100% from the current 50.99%, Manzhos said.

Shares of the country’s second largest bank VTB looked weaker than the market and lost 1.19% to 0.0666 rubles even though the bank said it had a 15.4 billion ruble net profit in January–June against a 17.1 billion ruble net loss in the same period of 2015, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Manzhos said.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Tuesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.00	138.10	9.060
Gazprom	-0.01	137.99	4.009
Lukoil	+0.34	2932.50	2.335
VTB	-1.19	0.0666	1.848
Rosneft	+1.33	343.50	1.366

(64.2076 rubles – U.S. $1)

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