Russian stocks edge down on new sanctions threat, unstable oil

MOSCOW, Jun 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Tuesday pressured by the U.S. Congress discussion of scaling up the sanctions and oil trading at half-year lows, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.17% to 1,861.27 and the RTS dropped 1.01% to 1,030.99.

“The Russian stock market has returned from the long vacations not in the best of moods to price in yesterday’s decline on global stock exchanges, a threat of toughening sanctions against Russia and dividend clearance stories of large state companies,” InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank was among market outsiders losing 2.75% to 146 rubles. He said the stock has broken through a 148 ruble resistance line and may have entered a “classic bear phase” to fall another 5-10%.

Gazprom sagged 1.95% to 118.15 rubles after the Finance Ministry said it may raise oil and gas production tax on the company’s operations in October-December to compensate for dividend losses.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Tuesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.75%	146.00	7.797
Gazprom	-1.95%	118.15	3.703
ALROSA	-2.23%	83.90	1.745
Rosneft	+2.01%	312.15	1.676
Magnit	+1.63%	9,589.00	1.669

(57.0020 rubles – U.S. $1)

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