Russian stocks dive on central bank’s tough stock market decisions

MOSCOW, Sep 6 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down significantly on Tuesday on the financial authorities’ decisions to admit non-residents from the friendly states to the local stock market and to prohibit purchases of securities from non-friendly states by Russian investors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index dropped 2.54% to 2,425.33 and the RTS decreased 2.74% to 1,252.47.

“The Russian stock market did not demonstrate certain dynamics in the first half of the day and continued to consolidate near the 4-month highs on a lack of clear drivers,” PSB Bank senior analyst Yegor Zhilnikov said.

“But in the second part of the session, the MOEX Russia Index started a dive on the news that non-residents would be admitted to the local stock market soon, on September 12. The access will be granted also to companies controlled by Russian legal entities and individuals,” he added.

Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalya Milchakova attributed the decrease on the Russian market to the central bank’s decision to limit sales of securities from non-friendly states to local unqualified investors to 15% of the portfolio from October 1, and to introduce the entire ban on such purchases from January 1, 2023.

Following the news, the shares of SPB Exchange dropped by 7.7%, she added.

Zhilnikov said that gold producers Polymetal International and Polyus were among the worst performers falling by 5.69% and 3.19% on the back of Polyus’s decision to pay no dividends for 2021.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.6	246	12.722
Sberbank	-2.67	137.23	11.990
Lukoil	-2.43	4545	4.957
Polyus	-3.19	8050	4.383
Rosneft	-2.44	375.7	3.018

(60.9033 rubles – U.S. $1)

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