Russian stocks correct downwards after Wednesday’s gains

MOSCOW, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Thursday in a downward correction after gains on Wednesday, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.21% to 2,331.59 and the RTS index decreased 0.39% to 1,120.69.

“On Thursday, October 25, the Russian stock market decreased after a rally a day before in the wake of a statement by U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton that no new sanctions were imminent. The sanctions risks remain, although the sanctions topic works perfectly as a speculative short-term idea,” Analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the decrease of the Asian and U.S. markets triggered sales in Russia in the morning, but a positive mood in Europe erased the losses, leaving only those that were due to the downward correction.

Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said that the news that rating agency Moody’s is considering raising the Russian rating to investment grade in 2019 favored recovery of the Russian market.

The oil price increased to U.S. $76 per Brent barrel but, according to Kochetkov, oil companies did not grow as the oil market is still not attractive for investors.

Kochetkov said that Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) grew 2.74% after releasing a report with almost doubling net profit in July–September. The combined dividends for 2018 can make 20 rubles per share.

Manzhos said that ALROSA surged on the news that the company discusses partnership with Saudi Arabia.

Yandex decreased 0.22% on the news that Russia can limit the taxi aggregator pricing freedom, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.69	186.71	14.913
Lukoil	-1.04	4943	8.828
Gazprom	+0.61	155.65	5.463
Norilsk Nickel	-1.12	10902	2.093
ALROSA	+2.5	98.11	1.613

(65.6299 rubles – U.S. $1)

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