Russian stocks decrease in line with oil amid OPEC talks

MOSCOW, May 25 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Thursday in line with oil prices, which fell 3% to slightly above U.S. $52 per barrel amid OPEC talks over prolongation of a production cut agreement, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.24% to 1,947.26 and the RTS decreased 0.37% to 1,083.52.

The market traded mixed during the day amid excessive volatility on the oil market and closed with a decline, analysts said.

“The preliminary results of the (OPEC and non-OPEC) meeting evoked mixed reaction on the market, as participants were already waiting for a more significant reduction of production volumes and a longer period of the agreement’s prolongation (for 12 months),” Veles Capital analyst Maxim Voronov said.

According to Iran’s Minister of Petroleum Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, OPEC and non-OPEC states agreed to extend the oil production cut agreement for nine months.

Uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA was among outsiders having fallen by 2.64% after reporting that its net profit dropped around 55% on the year to 22.686 billion rubles in January–March, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Power producer Wholesale Generating Company-2 (WGC-2) grew by 3.56% on reports that its IFRS net profit almost doubled to 5 billion rubles in January–March.

Shares of Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) lost 1.34% on Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev saying that the company’s privatization is not so far planned in 2017.

Mobile operator MegaFon lost 0.51% on reports that its IFRS net profit more than halved to 3.884 billion rubles in January–March from 8.840 billion rubles in the same period of 2016.

Power grid holding Rosseti decreased 3.17% on Deputy Economic Development Minister Nikolai Podguzov saying the company may pay 3 billion rubles in dividends for 2016.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1	164.05	5.675
Gazprom	-0.32	121.61	2.988
Lukoil	-0.21	2798.00	1.754
Rosneft	-0.2	306.40	1.505
Surgutneftegas	+6.01	29.36	1.440

(56.2743 rubles – U.S. $1)

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