Russian stocks decrease as inflation speeds up, ruble falls

MOSCOW, Aug 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Friday on falling ruble and the acceleration of the inflation, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.76% to 3,092.44 and the RTS decreased 2.95% to 1,015.74.

“On August 4, trading on Russian stock exchanges started in a slight plus, but in the second half of the day the quotes turned downward...  The reasons for the correction could be the data that recorded the acceleration of inflation in late July and early August, as well as the collapse of the ruble,” Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

On the Russian currency market, the dollar and the euro on Friday have updated the new highs since March 2022, Veles Broker analyst Yuri Kravchenko said.

“The market is repeating the scenario of late June or early July, when in conditions of low exchange liquidity and lack of supply of foreign currency proceeds, increased demand for currency by a number of major players sharply weakened the position of the Russian currency,” the analyst said.

 Shares of Bank Saint Petersburg were the leaders of growth on the news about an extraordinary meeting of shareholders on September 26, where the shareholders are to discuss the dividends for the first half of the year.

TGC-1’s shares showed the biggest drop on the market after the publication of the financial report for January–June, which disclosed a 30% decline in the net profit.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.79	264.28	28.777
Lukoil	-1.69	6051	14.804
Gazprom	-1.62	174.23	10.133
VTB Bank	-3.07	0.02624	9.015
Yandex	-2.32	2715.6	8.332

(93.7792 rubles – U.S. $1)

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