Russian stocks ease on recovering oil, trade tensions optimism

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market followed crude prices dynamics to ease at the closing on Tuesday, analysts said adding that a hope for improvement in global trade tensions supported the stocks.

The MOEX Russia Index dropped 0.11% to 2,394.26 and the RTS fell 0.16% to 1,134.71.

“The MOEX Russia Index opened with a marginal fall and the RTS index with an insignificant rise on Tuesday due to a mixed foreign background seen in the morning. The U.S. stock exchanges grew overnight, and the premarket futures were seen in the red territory,” Veles Capital analysts said in a statement.

The Russian stock market dynamics were influenced by the crude market situation later in the day, the analysts also said. Local benchmarks slid in the first half of the trade session on the Brent oil price seen below U.S. $60 per barre, and recovered later in the day when it bounced back to above the mark.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the domestic market was supported by positivity in the U.S. with the state’s all major indices adding 0.8–1% after talks with Chinese top officials to create a road map of further trade consultations. Media also reported that China was considering lowering duties on U.S.-made car imports.

Russian gold producer Polyus and aluminum giant UC RUSAL were among the biggest losers falling 3.01% to 4,873.5 rubles and 2.72% to 27.53 rubles, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.4	192.57	10.538
Lukoil	+1.81	5267	4.620
Gazprom	-1.49	158.6	3.985
Rosneft	-0.69	425.55	1.563
Norilsk Nickel	+0.86	12738	1.528

(66.2416 rubles – U.S. $1)

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