Russian stocks drop depressed by falling oil prices, weak ruble

MOSCOW, May 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Thursday depressed by falling oil prices, ruble’s depreciation, and a drop of global stocks caused by the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s (Fed) minutes indicating a possible increase of the key rate in June, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.34% to 1,891.52 and the RTS plummeted 4.47% to 885.42.

“The Russian currency took the main blow from decreased oil futures, which in its turn had a strong pressure on the dollar-denominated RTS index,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

The depreciated ruble put the banking sector under pressure, with Sberbank falling 2.13% and VTB Bank decreasing 1.22%, and supported shares of metals companies: aluminum giant UC RUSAL grew 1.53% and Norilsk Nickel rose 1.04%, Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Gas giant Gazprom dropped 2.48% depressed by the board of directors’ recommendation to pay 7.89 rubles per share in dividends for 2015, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft’s preferred shares decreased 5.2% as investors doubt that the company will pay 50% of its net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in dividends for 2015, Manzhos said.

The government recently adjusted dividend payment rules for state companies obliging them to take the highest figure of a net profit for 2015 – under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) or under IFRS – and allocate no less than 50% of the net profit for dividends.

Oil and gas pipe producer TMK fell 0.82% on reports that the company’s IFRS net profit plunged about 52% on the year to U.S. $14 million in January–March.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-2.48	148.33	10.315
Sberbank	-2.13	120.50	8.791
Lukoil	-0.42	2695.50	3.272
Norilsk Nickel	+1.04	9190.00	2.418
Rosneft	+0.15	330.00	1.407

(65.0641 rubles – U.S. $1)

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