Russian stocks decrease on lack of drivers, weak ruble

MOSCOW, Oct 4 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks moderately decreased on Tuesday amid the lack of new growth drivers, having ignored rising oil prices and positive dynamics on European floors, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.09% to 1,985.02 and the RTS decreased 0.38% to 1,000.84.

“The Russian stock market has demonstrated a moderate decline. Traders are ignoring further growth on the energy market, where Brent oil futures contract increased above U.S. $51 per barrel. Growth on European floors, where main indices gain around 0.8–1.2%, is also being ignored,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said “the outstripping decline of the dollar-denominated RTS index was caused by moderate depreciation of the ruble against the U.S. dollar.”

Aluminum giant UC RUSAL rose 6.05% to 238.5 rubles per Russian Depositary Receipt (RDR) on recent reports that Russian tycoon Viktor Vekselberg expects to complete a deal to buy a 17% stake in RUSAL from Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group in a month.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.52	148.10	6.866
Gazprom	+0.64	136.23	2.674
Lukoil	+0.07	3077.00	1.156
Moscow Exchange	-5.85	120.20	1.140
Rosneft	+0.17	346.60	0.942

(62.5477 rubles – U.S. $1)

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