Russian stocks decrease on low oil prices, weak ruble

MOSCOW, Aug 6 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased Thursday as oil prices continued declining remaining below U.S. $50 per barrel, which contributed to the ruble’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar and the euro, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.03% to 1,675.71 and the RTS slumped 2.78% to 820.43.

“A renewal of the ruble exchange rate weakening against the U.S. dollar has become a reason for the RTS index breakdown to the minimum level over the last five months,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said. The ruble is depreciating amid falling oil prices, analysts said.

Remaining the main driver for the Russian stock market, oil prices will unlikely resume growth in the near future, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said. On Wednesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) confirmed a significant decline in oil stocks, but oil prices ignored this positive fact and continued a decline trend, the analyst said.

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) was among growth leaders on Thursday, having jumped 8.23% on reports that its net profit soared to 13.011 billion rubles in January–June from 527 million rubles in the same period a year ago, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS).

Oil company Surgutneftegas’ preferred shares grew 0.69% on reports that the company’s oil output rose 0.3% on the year to 35.745 million tonnes in January–July.

The country’s largest carmaker AvtoVAZ’s common shares decreased 0.5% after the company reported that its sales fell 25% on the year to 20,994 cars in July.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.69	72.25	7.468
Gazprom	-2.02	140.88	5.108
Lukoil	-1.48	2491.60	2.817
Norilsk Nickel	+0.35	10125.00	2.617
Magnit	-3.97	12309.00	2.323

(62.7184 rubles – U.S. $1)

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