Russian stocks decrease ahead of fresh EU sanctions

MOSCOW, Apr 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market demonstrated a significant fall on Tuesday on expectations of a new package of E.U. sanctions against Russia, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index dropped 4.48% to 2,662.79 and the RTS decreased 4.46% to 1,004.78.

“The Russian stock market was under sales pressure… The traders continued to ignore the dynamics of external stock exchanges and revalued Russian stocks against their geopolitical risks expectations and internal portfolio risks,” senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.Ru Bogdan Zvarich said.

A part of investors started the day in the wait-and-see position, but began sales after the MOEX Russia Index had reached the resistance level of 2,800. The market failed to break through the line three times so investors preferred to take profit, Zvarich also said.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the pessimism was linked to discussions about a new package of E.U. sanctions against Russia.

Realty developer PIK and fertilizers producer Acron were among the biggest losers, down 9.12% and 7.62%, respectively. Blue chips VTB Bank and steel maker Severstal fell 8.05% and 7.76% to lose of their previous gains.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank, common	-7.17	154.1	20.716
Gazprom	-3.72	243.5	9.791
VTB Bank	-8.05	0.02308	8.714
Yandex	-5.54	2158.4	3.787
Sberbank, preferred	-7.76	159.99	2.594

(83.5932 rubles – U.S. $1)

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