Russian stocks down on oil price fall, economic slowdown fears

MOSCOW, Aug 7 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks fell on Wednesday due to a significant contraction of oil prices, while concerns over a slowdown of the international economy emerged again after an unexpected decrease of the key rates by several Asia-Pacific central banks, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.31% to 2,674.98 and the RTS decreased 0.74% to 1,284.91.

“The oil price fell below $60 per barrel, which is a serious blow to the OPEC states and to Saudi Arabia in particular. The OPEC states have likely overestimated energy demand growth, and the oil output reduction quotas turned out to be inefficient. The oil prices are also undermined by the trade dispute between the U.S. and China that breeds concerns about a slowdown of economic growth,” Gaidar Gasanov, expert at International Financial Center, said.

The Brent oil price fell 3.713% to U.S. $56.83 per barrel as of 6.01 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, also said that oil prices were the main reason for sales on the Russian stock market.

“Three central banks in the Asia-Pacific region made unexpected decisions on interest rates in order to fight the global economic slowdown. New Zealand and India reduced their rates by more basis points than expected, while Thailand’s central bank cut the rate by 25 points which was completely unexpected by the market,” Yaroslav Kabakov, director for strategy at investment company Finam, said.

“We are at the threshold of a global recession. When central banks all around the world are cutting interest rates, no economy is in the winning spot. It is likely that the Chinese central bank will be the last to cut the rates as it doesn’t have to do that to devaluate the yuan,” Kabakov said.

Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that assets that are on the sidelines of the U.S.–China trade war were among the leaders on the Russian market.

Gas giant Gazprom gained 0.40% to 227.67 rubles winning from falling U.S. liquefied natural gas sales to China, while precious metals producers Polyus and Polymetal International gained 2.25% to 6,944 rubles and 3.41% to 832.80 rubles, respectively, as gold prices skyrocketed above $1,500 per ounce, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.40	227.67	11.373
Sberbank	-1.66	222.25	11.134
Lukoil	-0.47	5210.00	6.028
Norilsk Nickel	+1.51	14700.00	2.813
Rosneft	-1.32	406.55	1.994

(65.2030 rubles – U.S. $1)

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