Russian stocks decrease on falling oil prices, lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks continued falling on Wednesday due to a lack of domestic drivers and oil prices resuming downward movement, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.60% to 2,049.48 and the RTS decreased 0.79% to 1,118.13.

“During the first hour of trading we saw the local market’s attempts to grow. However, morning purchases faded soon due to a lack of a foreign positive,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said in a research note.

Finam expert Vasily Oleinik said, “The technical image of the Russian ruble-denominated MICEX index continues to signal in favor of a further reduction. The index manages to maintain the support level of 2,060 points for a third day in a row, but the market continues to show weakness.”

The Brent oil price switched to decline after a 13% increase in the U.S. oil production and 0.2% growth in the country’s oil reserves were reported.

Retailer Magnit was among growth leaders with a 4.88% increase correcting after a nearly 20% drop over the past three trading days caused by poor financial results.

Retailer Dixy Group added 3.67% after it reported a 469 million ruble net profit in July–September against a 1.59 billion ruble net loss in the same period of 2016, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Independent gas producer Novatek went down 0.81% on reports that its IFRS net profit attributable to shareholders fell 44% on the year to 111.998 billion rubles in January–September.

Power grid holding Rosseti lost 2.45% after reporting that its net profit dropped 96% on the year to 7.3 billion rubles in January–September, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.24	192.04	6.244
Magnit	+4.88	8299.00	4.618
Gazprom	-0.81	125.00	3.033
Norilsk Nickel	-2.59	10390.00	2.511
Lukoil	-0.43	3005.00	1.885

(57.5852 rubles – U.S. $1)

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