Russian stocks dip on oil price, foreign markets' decrease

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market eased on Thursday because of an oil price and foreign stock markets' fall, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index lost 0.08% to 3,131.76, and the RTS index fell by 0.88% to 982.6.

"Further growth is held down by a decline of oil quotations, sales on the global markets and the possibility of further toughening of the monetary policy by the Russian mega-regulator," managing company Pervaya’s analyst Ivan Kapustyansky said.

The Brent and WTI nearest futures lost about 2% in the middle of the Russian session and reset the lows since the end of August, Yelena Kozhukhova from Veles Capital said.

The European and U.S. stock markets were neutral, with the Euro Stoxx 50 remaining at the lowest level since March and the U.S. S&P 500 demonstrating almost no changes, the analyst said.

The Russian oil and gas sector increased in spite of the oil price fall, as investors were trying to protect the assets from the weakening ruble by buying the shares of Surgutneftegas. Gazprom and Lukoil still could announce interim dividends for January–September, Kozhukhova said.

Segezha grew strongly most probably because of an earlier statement by the CEO about possible dividends for July–September, the analyst said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.18	259.05	5.274
Yandex class A	+2.87	2447.8	4.689
Lukoil	+0.97	6725	4.206
Surgutneftegas	+2.76	33.69	3.561
Surgutneftegas pref	+1.93	56.5	2.564

(99.4555 rubles – U.S. $1)

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