Russian stocks fall as Putin–Trump call dispels sanctions rumors

MOSCOW, Jan 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market declined on Monday after growth last week as details of a phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump proved that rumors of a soon easing of Washington’s sanctions against Moscow were wrong, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.41% to 2,234.14 and the RTS decreased 1.67% to 1,175.64.

“There are no reasons for growth on the Russian market because the hopes for normalization of Russia–U.S. relations were put on the back burner,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Irina Rogova, an analyst at the Forex Club group of companies, said that the decisions of Trump regarding acceptance of refugees were also indirectly pushing Russian stocks down because they are raising a level of political tension and are pressurizing European and U.S. stocks futures.

An oil price decrease to about U.S. $55.20 per barrel was an additional negative factor for the Russian stock market, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.41	174.6	8.087
Gazprom	-2.14	150.8	3.267
Magnit	-2.78	9625	2.403
Lukoil	-2.24	3408	2.252
RusHydro	-0.37	1.0546	1.355

(60.3196 rubles – U.S. $1)

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