Russian stocks decrease on falling oil, ruble, European floors

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Wednesday on the background of falling oil prices, in anticipation of publication of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes, decreasing European stocks and the ruble weakening, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.03% to 1,673.86 and the RTS decreased 1.91% to 794.19.

“On Wednesday, the Russian stock market continued its correction for a third day in a row… Still weakening oil and expectations of the release of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes on the results of the recent meeting make risky assets less attractive for investors,” Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Brent price fell to U.S. $47 per barrel by the end of the trading session.

“Russian stocks faced a quite negative external background today. Although the Chinese market rebounded, European trading floors continued to fall that was majorly caused by fears of the yuan devaluation and Chinese economic slowdown,” Vasily Tanurkov, deputy head of stock market analysis department at Veles Capital, said.

The fall of the dollar-denominated RTS was technically sped up by the ruble weakening to 66.4 against the dollar by the closing bell.

Fertilizer producer PhosAgro rose 1.38% to 2,874 rubles after publishing strong financial results for January–June, as the company’s net profit surged 240% on the year to 27.686 billion rubles, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Tanurkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.31	71.50	7.621
Gazprom	-1.30	140.80	4.375
Lukoil	-0.90	2468.50	2.957
Norilsk Nickel	-0.87	9725.00	2.011
Magnit	-0.33	12050.00	1.197

(65.8289 rubles – U.S. $1)

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