Russian stocks ease on Wednesday in line with oil prices

MOSCOW, Aug 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Wednesday undermined by the falling oil price and by a generally negative background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.69% to 2,267.13 and the RTS decreased 2.43% to 1,055.24.

“The Russian stocks fell while the Turkish lira continued its correction and trade in Europe was in a lull. Among reasons for the pessimism we may reiterate weak statistics from China, details of the U.S. bill on anti-Russian restrictions, and the fact that the Brent oil price was trading below U.S. $72,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Vasily Oleinik, an expert at investment company Finam, said that the background for the Russian market was negative as the Asian and U.S. bourses traded in the red during the day.

“People’s Bank of China signaled its readiness to devaluate the Chinese yuan. When it happens, all the stock markets – especially in the U.S. – will be shocked, as well as debt markets and, obviously, the currency markets. The DXY index of the U.S. dollar may momentarily skyrocket above 100, the Asian currencies may fall 20–30%, and the currencies of the emerging states may slide 10–20% more against the U.S. dollar,” Oleinik said.

Kochetkov said that shares of top bank Sberbank, a market bellwether for investor attitude, fell 2.48%.

Shares of national flagship carrier of Aeroflot rose 0.14% after the company announced a 7.04 billion ruble buyback of shares of minority owners discontent with leasing of 50 MC-21 planes, Kochetkov added.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.48	187.98	14.726
Lukoil	-0.71	4428.50	3.909
Gazprom	+0.18	141.50	2.943
Norilsk Nickel	+0.09	11000.00	2.753
Aeroflot	+0.14	107.40	1.648

(66.7535 rubles – U.S. $1)

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