Russian stocks drop dragged by oil price collapse, negative moods

MOSCOW, Apr 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks continued to decline on Tuesday pressured by the collapse of oil prices and negative moods on global floors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.50% to 2,488.02 and the RTS dropped 5.26% to 1,012.15.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS remained in minus by the end of trading following a collapse of oil quotations and weakening of the global risk appetite,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign background was negative. Trading in the U.S. started with a decline of three main indices, which were losing around 2.5–3.9% by the end of the Russian session. Investors were concerned with warnings of Coca-Cola and IBM about the negative impact of coronavirus on their operations. Negative moods were seen on European floors as well.

The June Brent and WTI oil futures were losing around 20–30% by the end of the Russian session.

Hydropower giant RusHydro was among growth leaders, adding 2.02% after reporting that its power output rose 19.2% on the year to 39.008 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in January–March. Precious metals producer Polymetal added 1.76%.

Multi-industry holding Sistema and metals giant Norilsk Nickel were among outsiders, losing 4.15% and 3.97%, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.73	186.05	17.515
Lukoil	-1.05	4475.00	16.676
Gazprom	-1.94	181.92	12.161
Norilsk Nickel	-3.97	19240.00	8.234
Rosneft	-1.27	304.00	7.629

(74.6657 rubles – U.S. $1)

End