Russian stocks ease on possible US steel duties, negative environ

MOSCOW, Mar 2 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Friday on investor worries about possible U.S. steel and aluminum duties and a generally unfavorable background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.39% to 2,288.84 and the RTS decreased 0.98% to 1,261.63.

“The Russian stocks market traded in the red zone on Friday…reacting to (possible) introduction of duties on steel by the U.S.,” Sergei Drozdov, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that the country will introduce a 25% steel imports duty and a 10% aluminum duty for a long time.

Drozdov said that the decision resulted in a slump of U.S. and European bourses.

“Donald Trump thinks that trade wars are a positive moment. But trade wars mean higher costs and higher losses for markets during the processes for market reformatting of the markets. New restrictive tariffs of the U.S. had a negative impact on the metals industry,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Steelmakers Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and Severstal lost 0.95% to 144.45 rubles and 1.85% to 897.30 rubles, respectively, while Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 3.17% to 45.205 rubles and aluminum giant UC RUSAL shrank 2.65% to 38.58 rubles.

“The increase of geopolitical risks in the wake of Donald Trump’s comments exert pressure on the global stock market today…Commodity prices fell in the past 24 hours on fears of lower trade turnover. Only defensive assets in the form of gold and sovereign bonds were growing today,” Yevgeniya Abramovich, head of the department for analysis of currency risks at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank SA, said.

Kochetkov also said that Gazprom lost 1.09% to 138.57 rubles on an order of the Stockholm arbitration court to pay Ukraine’s Naftogaz Ukrainy U.S $2.56 billion and Gazprom’s decision to terminate sales and transit contracts with Ukraine.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.73	273.00	12.489
Magnit	+1.46	5058.00	4.418
Gazprom	-1.09	138.57	3.731
Aeroflot	+0.03	152.00	2.199
Lukoil	-0.12	3749.50	2.092

(56.4334 rubles – U.S. $1)

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