Russian stocks edge down in light of unfavorable environment

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down at the end of the trading session on Tuesday due to a moderately pessimistic foreign background with main U.S. and European indices and crude prices correcting downwards, analyst said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.24% to 3,918.96 and the RTS decreased 0.03% to 1,684.16.

“The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices were correcting downwards at the end of the trading session… thanks to moderately negative sentiments on global stock exchanges. Buyers received no support from macroeconomic data in the U.S. and Europe, which resulted in a bounce-back from recent highs,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

All the three main U.S. benchmarks decreased at the opening to fall by around 0.3% by the end of the Russian trading session, and the European indices lost 0.4%, she also said.

The Brent and the WTI oil prices slid by around 0.5% to U.S. $74 and $71 per barrel, respectively, she added.

Diamond miner ALROSA surged by 3.8% on the news that its supervisory board had recommended paying 8.79 rubles per share, or a total of 64.738 billion rubles, in dividends for January–June.

Aluminum producer RUSAL added 1.99% thanks to aluminum prices hitting 10-year highs.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.26	305.96	18.510
Lukoil	-2.76	6261.5	12.295
Sberbank	+0.19	328.9	10.263
Yandex	+4.39	5587.6	7.162
ALROSA	+3.85	145.8	6.615

(73.5744 – U.S. $1)

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