Russian stocks edge down slightly amid lack of strong drivers

MOSCOW, Sep 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down on Friday thanks to a lack of global growth drivers and uncertainly on the Asian markets, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.53% to 2,757.98 and the RTS dropped 0.87% to 1,347.72.

“The Russian stock market demonstrated a dull reaction to uncertainty of Asian indices. Growth attempts also failed thanks to decreasing oil prices. But oil stocks ignored the trend,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the domestic benchmarks stayed in a negative territory as there were no growth drivers.

Kochetkov said that precious metals producers Polymetal International and Polyus slid 2.95% to 910.3 rubles and 2.75% to 7,561.5 rubles, respectively, following prices for the metals.

Independent gas producers Novatek fell 2% to 1,339.6 rubles as the stock is overheated.

IT giant Yandex eased 0.16% to 2,315.8 rubles in light of Huawei’s interest in its applications.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.45	228.05	4.136
Gazprom	-1.28	229.01	3.126
Lukoil	+0.32	5405	2.238
Norilsk Nickel	+0.49	16468	1.911
Tatneft	-1.05	697.5	1.110

(64.2888 rubles – U.S. $1)

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