Russian stocks decrease as govt orders to wear masks in public

MOSCOW, Oct 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Tuesday together with the European bourses depressed by growing COVID-19 statistics, with the negative impact exacerbated by an order of the local government to wear masks in public, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia index fell 0.81% to 2,763.03, and the RTS index decreased 1.82% to 1,131.36.

"A negative external background did not allow the Russian market to grow… The situation on foreign markets, where investors were worried by a active growth of the COVID-19 contagion and a return of the quarantine was the main negative factor," Otkritie Broker senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Kochetkov said that the European indices mostly decreased on the back of COVID-19 statistics. German Chancellor Angela Merkel deepened the fears by saying that the country was on the brink of losing control over the spread of the disease.

Freedom Finance analyst Valery Yemelyanov said that the Russian market underperformed as compared with the majority of global markets after the Russian consumer rights protection authority ordered to wear masks in public.

Oil prices were supported by hurricane Zeta in the Gulf of Mexico, and recovery of demand in Asia. According to Kochetkov, the growth was to be short-lived after Reuters reported that commercial oil reserves in the U.S. could rise by 1.1 million barrels over the last week.

Yemelyanov said that oil was near U.S. $41 in the evening, a record low since the beginning of October. The growth of volatility was caused by the COVID-19 statistics, he said.

Kochetkov said that the chemical and petrochemical industry tried to gain, while the finance, consumer sectors and electric power lost the most. 

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.53	207.88	12.135
Gazprom	-1.91	159.08	8.271
Norilsk Nickel	-2.12	19100	5.322
Lukoil	-2.56	4115	4.765
Yandex	+1.78	4584	3.447

(76.4443 rubles – U.S. $1)

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