Russian stocks fall as dividend season comes to end

MOSCOW, Sep 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market dropped on Thursday because of an upcoming end of the dividend season and falling foreign stock markets and oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index decreased 2.35% to 3,169.07, and the RTS index dropped 2.36% to 1,014.05.

"The Russian stock market remained in a downward correction in the middle of the session because of continuation of profit taking in many issuers and consolidation of risky assets abroad," Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

"Investors in Russia try to cash in dividend stories, but profit taking from the dividend securities will start later as well."

Only the common shares of Tatneft remained in the green zone among the blue chips until the evening, when they sank 1.38%.

"Interest to Tatneft was obviously supported by expectations of interim dividend payments for the first half of 2023 at 27.54 rubles on both types of shares with a shareholder meeting on September 21 and a record date on October 11 (the yield at about 4.5%)," Kozhukhova said.

Acron corrected downwards 6.46% after a jump on Wednesday, as well as HeadHunted falling 4.49% and Seligdar 4.24%, the analyst said.

Fix Price decreased 5.42% after publishing neutral operating and financial results for April–June under International Financial Reporting Standards, she said.

Director of the stock market department at managing company Pervaya Anton Kravchenko said that the telecommunications sector was one of the market leaders during the session.

Kozhukhova said that the foreign market mood was cautious. The U.S. market was about to start a pronounced short-term decline, and the European indicator was decreasing to an August low.

The Brent price fell about 0.5% to U.S. $90 per barrel.

According to Kravchenko, the Russian market growth potential is not over, because a weak ruble, the redomiciliation of Russian companies and a possible oil price rise might support market growth.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.13	257.9	15.900
Lukoil	-3.24	6645	13.821
Gazprom	-2.16	177.05	8.513
Rusolovo	-8.94	1.602	6.244
VTB	-4.16	0.02733	5.396

(97.8439 rubles – U.S. $1)

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