Russian stocks edge down following Western markets

MOSCOW, Oct 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks declined on Friday following Western markets, analysts said.

“The Moscow Exchange opened with a light decline and started slipping down following the ruble strengthening, a fall of the western indices and rising concerns about the toughening of the U.S. monetary policy and growth of rates. In the afternoon, the Russian market started winning back the loss of the morning trade session thanks to the positive statistics from the U.S. Finally, the market closed at the previous day level,” investment company Veles Capital said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.57% to 2,450.90 and the RTS lost 0.12% to 1,159.33.

The external background was negative with the S&P 500 losing 0.7% and the STOXX 600 losing 0.84%, Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said. He cited several reasons for the decline: a rise in the U.S. Treasuries’ yield, trade woes amid the U.S. and China, and Italy’s expectations of a GDP slowdown in 2018.

The U.S. markets opened with a strong decline amid reports on a higher fall in unemployment than expected and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s statements on a possible hike of the key rate, analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.14	187.2	19.431
Gazprom	+1.19	170.5	5.099
Lukoil	-0.06	4987	2.517
Rosneft	-1.02	503	2.424
Magnit	-0.26	3830	1.645

(66.2115 rubles – U.S. $1)

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