Russian stocks ease on Wednesday as oil prices stop growing

MOSCOW, Sep 26 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks eased on Wednesday as the market lost the supporting factor of growing oil prices, while investors were waiting for results of the current meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) on its monetary policy, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.69% to 2,427.29 and the RTS decreased 0.71% to 1,160.78.

“(Russian indices) managed to renew their yesterday’s highest figures in the first minutes of the trade. But later in the day, the local stock market noticeably eased as it was dragged down by its own weight. The main reason for that was suspension of the recent growth wave in oil prices,” Algo Capital’s senior risk manager Vitaly Manzhos said.

The Brent oil price fell 0.306% to U.S. $81.26 per barrel as of 5.42 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the European and the Russian markets were in a lull on Wednesday as they usually are before any significant meeting of the Fed. Growth of U.S. crude reserves stopped the increase of oil prices, and shares of oil companies reacted to that, he said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, Veles Broker’s analyst, said that a further downward correction of the Russian stocks would depend on oil prices, while the dynamics in the U.S. dollar trade will affect the ruble dynamics. The Russian currency may gain some additional advantages if the Fed signals a softer monetary policy, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.12	195.79	12.108
Lukoil	-1.46	4828.50	4.506
Gazprom	-0.98	159.27	4.120
Magnit	-4.61	3992.00	2.668
Rosneft	-0.33	458.50	1.863

(65.8244 rubles – U.S. $1)

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