Russian stocks close mixed thanks to falling floors, rising oil

MOSCOW, Aug 6 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market was discouraged by a negative sentiment on the global stock exchanges and sanctions threats on Monday, but the MOEX Russia Index managed to reverse up before closing, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.08% to 2,299.88 and the RTS fell 0.57% to 1,138.57.

“The MOEX Russia Index rose in the first part of the day… then reversed to the negative territory in the evening. The index was pressured by (negative dynamics of) European markets due to a lack of a positive domestic agenda,” Veles Capital analyst Alexei Adonin said.

Analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said that investors in Russia are worried about possible introduction of U.S. sanctions against the country’s state debt which make them sell OFZ government bonds.

On August 2, a group of U.S. senators introduced a bill on new anti-Russian sanctions, including sanctions against sovereign debt and politicians as well as caps for energy investment and restriction of uranium imports.

Sosnova said that the crude price was still above U.S. $73 fueled by upcoming sanctions against Iran, ensuring support to Russian stocks.

She added that the foreign background was generally negative with the trade conflict between the U.S. and China gaining momentum. U.S. futures were seen mixed and Asian markets showed considerable losses.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.84	203.9	10.714
Magnit	+0.59	4230	2.536
Gazprom	-0.74	141.34	2.149
Rosneft	+1.97	419.35	1.992
Lukoil	-0.46	4479	1.840

(63.4549 rubles – U.S. $1)

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