Russian stocks decrease on Lukoil's dividend gap

MOSCOW, Dec 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market declined on Tuesday on the back of a dividend gap in the shares of Lukoil, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index decreased by 0.50% to 2,119.37, and the RTS index fell by 2.43% to 967.24.

"A dividend gap in the shares of Lukoil (–11.7%) weighting almost 15% of the index dragged down the MOEX Russia Index, although most of the companies on the list demonstrated positive dynamics," Finam analyst Ksenia Lapshina said.

According to Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova, the market remained in the red zone, while erasing some of the losses as some companies grew and the foreign stock market mood improved.

The RTS declined deeper than the MOEX Russia Index because of a weakening ruble.

The European market trend was moderately negative, as the Euro Stoxx 50 index decreased by 0.2%. In the U.S., the S&P 500 futures erased all intraday losses by the middle of the Russian session and was neutral. The neatest Brent and WTI futures increased about 0.5–1.0% returning to the peaks of U.S. $83 and $77.50 respectively.

The Moscow Exchange shares increased 3.97% because the trading floor extends the number of traded instruments actively, Lapshina said.

PIK Group and LSR Group corrected upwards 2.13% and 3.23% respectively, the analyst said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	-11.95	4072.5	7.335
Sberbank	+2.09	137.45	5.259
Polyus	+3.82	7790	2.437
Gazprom	+0.85	158.95	2.281
MMK	-1.31	32.5	1.770

(66.3474 rubles – U.S. $1)

End