Russian stocks decrease as hope for OPEC agreement vanish

MOSCOW, Nov 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell slightly on Monday as OPEC oil producers are becoming increasingly unlikely to agree on any market steps at a meeting on Wednesday, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.17% to 2,094.65 and the RTS edged down 0.03% to 1,018.18.

Investors are waiting impatiently for the outcome of the next OPEC meeting. “The emotional pendulum of commodities market participants swung to the opposite side in the end of last week. The recent euphoria changed for pessimism on the back of news that the oil cartel participants still cannot settle the internal disagreements,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Bloomberg reported that a Monday’s meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers was cancelled due to a disagreement in the cartel.

The key European markets and U.S. indices demonstrated a serious contraction during the day, which added to the pessimistic moods, Manzhos said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the Russian market was overbought after a rally of the last few weeks and it is logical for it to start falling.

In the evening, the market consolidated, which according to Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich, was due to market participants’ expectations of a release of U.S. macroeconomic statistics, starting on Tuesday, and the Wednesday’s OPEC summit.

The shares of non-oil and gas exporters grew amid the deterioration of the oil market situation, Manzhos said.

Enel Russia outperformed the market, rising 10.20% on expectations of a dividend rise, Manzhos said. The company can also receive a large one-time income by selling one or several generating assets, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.6	159.4	5.354
Gazprom	-1.57	148.94	3.643
Bashneft	+0.15	3568	2.177
Inter RAO	+3.91	3.948	2.030
Lukoil	-0.29	3145.5	1.728

(64.6174 rubles – U.S. $1)

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