Russian stocks decline on worsened foreign background

MOSCOW, Feb 18 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Thursday following deterioration of the foreign background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.07% to 3,400.17 and the RTS also decreased 1.07% to 1,446.70.

“After growth attempts, the MOEX Russia Index and RTS went into the negative territory by the end of trading along with deterioration of sentiment on foreign markets,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign background was moderately negative. Trading in the U.S. started with a decline of three main indices, which were losing around 0.9–1.6% by the end of the Russian session. Moderately negative moods were seen on European floors.

The nearest futures for Brent and WTI oil were losing up to 0.5% by the evening.

Aluminum giant RUSAL added 0.82%, telecom operator Rostelecom rose 0.93%, and metals giant Norilsk Nickel increased by 0.58%.

Oil major Gazprom Neft was among outsiders, losing 2.75% on weak financial results. Internet giant Yandex fell 3.12%, and metals and mining company Mechel decreased 3.5%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.62	266.51	14.614
Gazprom	-1.92	224.74	8.993
Norilsk Nickel	+0.58	26.642	8.147
Lukoil	-2.86	5603.50	6.716
Yandex	-3.12	5025.00	5.179

(73.7669 rubles – U.S. $1)

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