Russian stocks dip after volatile session on US-China clash

MOSCOW, May 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with a downward gap on Monday after a volatile trading session on the back of a general negative trend on the foreign markets due to continuing U.S.–China trade dispute, which was at times balanced by growing oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index eased by 0.24% to 2,508.87 and the RTS index decreased 0.51% to 1,207.57.

“The trading session on the Russian market saw a moderate growth on Monday despite a decline on the global markets. Shares of exporters were affected by weakening of the ruble and active growth of oil quotations, by more than 1%,” Sergei Deineka, financial analyst of BCS Premier, said.

“The black gold reacted to an incident near the shore of the United Arab Emirates, where two Saudi Arabia tankers were attacked.”

Reduction of the number of drilling rigs in the U.S. also boosted oil prices, he said.

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS Broker, said: “But in the second half of the Russian session, global stock market indicators resumed a gradual fall and our market followed them without paying attention to continuing oil price increase. As a result, Russian indices renewed the lows of April, after which resurged at the end of the trade.”

Veles Capital Yelena Kozhukhova said that the external background for the Russian trading session was negative with the Euro Stoxx 50 decreasing by about 0.5% as investors tended to avoid risks. The S&P 500 lost about 1.4% as the U.S.–China trade war became hotter.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump may prepare to introduce 25% duties on all Chinese goods, which will affect U.S. consumers, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.22	224.22	10.651
Lukoil	+1.13	5350	4.379
Gazprom	-0.37	163	2.771
Moscow Exchange	-5.81	86.34	1.639
Rosneft	+0.83	417.2	1.618

(65.2287 rubles – U.S. $1)

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