Russian stocks fall amid oil price collapse, closed Western floors

MOSCOW, Dec 25 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday amid a collapse of oil prices and a closure of the majority of foreign floors for the Christmas holidays, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.35% to 2,290.86 and the RTS decreased 2.00% to 1,048.71.

“By the middle of the trading day on Tuesday, the Russian stock indices were in minus amid a collapse of oil quotations and foreign stock floors,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The ruble depreciated against the dollar and euro, she said.

Promsvyazbank chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich said that “the failure on the U.S. floors, where main indices lost over 2.5% yesterday, as well as the pullback of Brent crude oil to U.S. $50 per barrel, support Russian “bears”.

Russia’s largest children goods retailer Detsky Mir and oil company RussNeft were among outsiders, losing 5.56% and 4.59%, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.54	183.30	6.299
Gazprom	-1.82	147.01	1.931
Lukoil	-2.02	4810.00	1.289
VTB	-1.57	0.034175	0.905
Moscow Exchange	-1.53	81.68	0.785

(68.4073 rubles – U.S. $1)

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