Russian stocks drop on falling oil prices, slow indus output rise

MOSCOW, Jul 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market declined on Tuesday as oil prices failed to erase a significant decrease of Monday, and a lackluster rise of the industrial production in June additionally pressured the stocks, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.00% to 2,310.92 and the RTS index decreased 1.31% to 1,165.14.

“The Russian stock market started to show the signs of weakness yesterday and today, sales have deepened significantly, seemingly, due to a decline of the raw material prices,” Vasily Oleinik, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

The Brent oil rose 0.14% to U.S. $71.94 as of 6:26 p.m., Moscow time on Tuesday after sliding 5% on Monday. The ruble dynamics was muted, Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex group of companies, said.

Kovalyov said that Russia’s industrial output grew by 2.2% on the year in June, below a forecast of 3.2% disappointing the market.

He said that sales predominated in the oil and gas, and financial sectors.

Oleinik said that Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) fell 7.65% on an ex-dividend gap.

Kovalyov said that MMK decreased 0.29% after publishing operating figures for April–June with sales declining 5% on the year.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.41	222.5	13.946
Gazprom	-1.15	145.31	3.730
Lukoil	-0.88	4262.5	2.393
Norilsk Nickel	-0.66	10610	1.930
Rosneft	-1.92	399.5	1.087

(62.2556 rubles – U.S. $1)

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