Russian stocks decrease as traders wait for US Fed meeting

MOSCOW, Sep 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday amid low trading activity in anticipation of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting and oil prices remaining below U.S. $47 per barrel, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.78% to 1,716.26 and the RTS decreased 0.13% to 807.52.

The RTS index was showing a small growth the most part of the day having received support from the ruble strengthening against the dollar, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

“Purchases were replaced by sales on the Russian market by the end of the day. It has become clear that it is getting more difficult to continue growth without strongly marked reasons for optimism, that’s why indexes turned downwards,” InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

The biggest decline was recorded at Russian exporters, including gold producer Polyus Gold, which edged down 5%, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), which fell 2.91%, aluminum giant UC RUSAL, which declined 2.69%, and fertilizer maker Acron, which went down 2%, Veles Capital analyst Alexander Kostyukov said.

Debt-ridden metals and mining group Mechel rose 2.29% on reports that the Moscow Arbitration Court cancelled a bankruptcy claim against the company after it repaid the principal debt amounting to 730 million rubles to investment firm RPFB Project Finance.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.04	74.85	4.760
Gazprom	-1.14	141.95	3.471
Lukoil	-1.84	2478.10	2.427
Norilsk Nickel	+0.78	11009.00	1.438
Surgutneftegas pref	+0.07	41.25	1.023

(67.9571 rubles – U.S. $1)

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