Russian stocks ease as metals firms rise, oil falls

MOSCOW, Jun 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down on Monday as metals companies rebounded, but the oil prices fell, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.16% to 3,825.57 and the RTS decreased 0.14% to 1,669.75.

“The metals companies exerted the main pressure on the indices in the two last trading days. Today, all metals and mining companies have risen, excluding RUSAL and Mechel. The metals companies became excessively oversold on the worries about the blow from the temporary export duties on ferrous and non-ferrous metals,” Mikhail Shulgin, head of Otkritie Broker’s global research department, said.

“The external background restricted positive dynamics of the Russian stock market. The oil prices fell, prices for metals on the London Stock Exchange decreased, and the European trade floors lost. But the futures for the U.S. stock indices were close to their record highs on positive expectations of the U.S. June labor market statistics later this week.”

Alexander Osin, head of Freedom Finance’s department for trade operations on the Russian stock market, said that the oil prices fell due on worries about the upcoming meeting of the OPEC+ alliance.

“Media report that the members of the OPEC+ agreement will approve further reduction of the oil production cuts, but hydrocarbon market data on the balance of supply and demand shows no noticeable deficit in the past several months. The mid-term forecasts still say the deficit will widen, but the oil prices become more and more dependent on the factors that are external for the industry, including the regulatory and sanction pressure on the producers, renewal of quarantine restrictions, and rising U.S. debt,” Osin said.

He also said that the oil prices pushed oil companies Rosneft and Gazprom Neft 1.75% lower to 554.80 rubles and 0.01% to 430 rubles, respectively.

VTB Bank outperformed the market to gain 1.88% to 0.04955 rubles. Dmitry Pyanov, member of the bank’s management board, said that VTB’s net profit will exceed 150 billion rubles in January–March as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Osin added.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.11	277.50	7.122
Sberbank	-0.84	309.20	5.687
Lukoil	-0.61	6768.50	5.242
Norilsk Nickel	+0.67	24900.00	4.007
Rosneft	-1.75	554.80	3.860

(72.1694 rubles – U.S. $1)

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