Russian stocks decrease on hawkish US Fed official's comment

MOSCOW, Jan 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Tuesday in line with most foreign markets after head of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) for San Francisco Mary Daly did not rule out a steep key rate increase, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index decreased 0.18% to 2,159.51, and the RTS index fell 0.34% to 974.51.

"The Russian stock market edged down in the middle of the session following profit taking abroad," Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The U.S. markets erased Monday's gains after Daly said that the key rate could be raised by 25 or 50 basis points at the next meeting, and that the key rate peak could amount to 5.00–5.25% annually, Finam analyst Ksenia Lapshina said.

According to Lapshina, the market expects hawkish rhetoric from U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday.

The Chinese market remained in the green zone by the middle of the Russian session due to a gradual easing of the COVID-19 restrictions, including opening of the borders between mainland China and Hong Kong, the analyst said.

Lukoil eased 0.8% after signing the sale of its refinery on Sicily to G.O.I. Energy, Lapshina said.

According to Kozhukhova, the shares of Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) were under pressure, sliding 1.14% after the shareholders failed to approve dividends for January–September.

The construction sector was under pressure after Sberbank raised mortgage rates by 50 basis points to a minimum of 10.9%, Kozhukhova said.

Alexei Golovinov, chief analyst at PSB Bank, said that Pharmsynthez grew for the second day in a row without clear reasons.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Pharmsynthez	+24.03	7.51	3.167
Sberbank	-0.01	142.39	2.784
Rosneft	-0.53	366	1.433
Gazprom	-0.07	162.6	1.103
Lukoil	-0.73	4080	1.055

(70.3002 rubles – U.S. $1)

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