Russian stocks decrease in line with oil prices, global floors

MOSCOW, Feb 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday pressured by negative foreign background, with low oil prices and falling global stocks, analysts said.

The MICEX decreased 1.01% to 2,035.77 and the RTS fell 1.60% to 1,099.46.

The stock market’s fall was caused by “a reduction on the commodities market, where the Brent oil price failed to retain above U.S. $56 (per barrel) and fell to $55.6 by the middle of the day,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said. Dynamics on European floors, where main indices are losing up to 0.3%, also affected moods on the Russian market, he said.

Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said the global market growth was restrained by an upcoming speech of recently-elected President Donald Trump at the U.S. Congress.  

Russian growth leaders included power firms Inter RAO, with a 9.7% increase, the Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES), with a 3.88% rise, and hydropower giant RusHydro, which grew 2.28%, Rogova said.

Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 1.78% despite reporting that its net profit jumped to 67.968 billion rubles in 2016 from 30.678 billion rubles in 2015, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.79	134.00	13.184
Sberbank	-3.08	156.00	10.715
FGC UES	+3.88	0.214	3.331
Lukoil	-1.56	3086.00	2.745
RusHydro	+2.28	0.9379	2.647

(57.9371 rubles – U.S. $1)

End