Russian stocks decline as fruitless Doha talks depress oil

MOSCOW, Apr 18 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Monday because oil quotations fell after fruitless talks in Doha on April 17, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.79% to 1,892.64 and the RTS decreased 0.61% to 899.58.

“Russian indices were under pressure because no decision on an oil output freeze was made by OPEC and non-OPEC countries at a meeting last Sunday (April 17),” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club, said.

Alfa-Capital analyst Andrei Shenk said that the failed negotiations in Doha caused a correction in oil prices that consequently depressed Russian stocks and the ruble. At the same time, Brent oil price rebounded significantly from below U.S. $40.5 per barrel to above $43 and the ruble started growing by the closing bell.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that oil and gas companies were particularly depressed by weak oil.

The financial sector and companies focused on the domestic market decreased on an intraday fall of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, according to the expert. VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank by assets, fell 2.35% to 0.0735 rubles, telecom operator Rostelecom contracted 2.68% to 93.48 rubles and flagship carrier Aeroflot went down 1.69% to 76.68 rubles.

Non-metal exporters were investors’ safe havens, Kochetkov said. Coal producer Raspadskaya jumped 5.68% to 29.56 rubles and fertilizer producer PhosAgro grew 3.61% to 2,838 rubles.

Metals and mining giant Mechel rose 1.75% to 65.64 rubles after the company said it has to repay 2.8 billion ruble debt to top Russian lender Sberbank and its unit Sberbank Leasing to complete debt restructuring, Veles Capital analyst Alexander Kostyukov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.92	118.20	10.753
Gazprom	-1.14	146.30	6.092
Lukoil	-1.61	2777.00	5.366
Norilsk Nickel	+1.64	9270.00	2.713
Rosneft	-1.89	303.90	2.264

(66.0452 rubles – U.S. $1)

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