Russian stocks drop on falling oil, mixed foreign background

MOSCOW, Jan 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Thursday dragged by falling oil prices and mixed dynamics of global floors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.27% to 3,422.67 and the RTS decreased 1.55% to 1,463.84.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS remained in minus by the end of trading being under pressure of geopolitical risks,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign background was neutral. Trading in the U.S. started with a small increase of three main indices, which were adding 0.2–0.4% by the end of the Russian session. Neutral moods prevailed on European floors.

The nearest futures for Brent and WTI oil were losing 1% by the end of trading in Russia on reports about growth of oil and oil products reserves in the U.S.

Children goods retailer Detsky Mir added 2.41% after publication of strong operating results for 2020 on Wednesday and on reports about Altus Capital’s plans to raise its stake in the retailer to 29.9% from 25%.

Real estate developer PIK Group rose 0.65% after reporting solid operating results.

TCS Group’s global depositary receipts (GDRs) continued downward correction and fell 5.4%. Metals and mining company Mechel decreased by 4.68%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.45	275.75	22.120
Gazprom	-2.67	218.30	15.785
Lukoil	-1.65	5767.50	10.171
Norilsk Nickel	-0.23	26488.00	8.345
Yandex	-2.23	5054.80	4.637

(73.3550 rubles – U.S. $1)

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