Russian stocks close neutral as oil price growth suspended

MOSCOW, Feb 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with marginal changes on Thursday as the oil price growth stopped, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 0.72% to 3,409.76, and the RTS index increased by 0.31% to 1,450.39.

"Russia's RTS grew in the morning and during the day following oil but fully lost the gained ground in the evening, returning to the level of the end of the previous session," Freedom Finance analyst Valery Yemelyanov said. "The Moscow Exchange Index firmed on the back of the U.S. dollar rise against the ruble."

Yemelyanov said that the oil prices started falling from their annual peaks with Brent edging up to U.S. $67.7 and then falling below the Wednesday level. But the upward trend was not lost and the prices can reach $68 per barrel on Friday.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said that Norilsk Nickel continued to fall after consecutive mishaps at the ore-enrichment facility and at the Oktyabrsky and Taimyrsky mines, which might strongly hurt financial and operating performance of the company in a few months.

Steel producers grew on an expected increase of demand as pandemic restrictions are lifted, Kochetkov said.

VTB was among the leaders, rising 0.72% in spite of a fall of its net profit by 63%. "The weak result is justified by allocations to the reserves and revaluation of non-financial assets," the analyst said. He added that the financial sector led the market.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Norilsk Nickel	-5.9	23380	37.923
Sberbank	+1.21	275.19	19.188
Lukoil	+1.2	5858	8.498
Gazprom	+0.46	223.57	8.415
Rosneft	+3.19	534.8	6.478

(73.7532 rubles – U.S. $1)

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