Russian stocks fall as investors concerned over US-China dispute

MOSCOW, Jun 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Friday as local investors were worried about possible outcome of Saturday’s trade talks between U.S. President Donald Trump with Chinese President Xi Jinping, while an intra-day increase of the ruble undermined the MOEX Russia Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.50% to 2,765.85 and the RTS decreased 0.54% to 1,380.52.

“The world’s stock exchanges and oil prices showed mostly positive dynamics on Friday waiting for progress in the (U.S.–China) foreign trade dispute…Nevertheless, the MOEX Russia Index switched into correction in the middle of the day under the pressure of a rising ruble. The RTS stayed in the green zone for some time…but started to lose ground later as well. But the situation at the international markets did not change drastically,” Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS Broker, said.

It is likely that the Friday factor coupled with uncertainty over tomorrow’s trade negotiations made many participants of the Russian market close their long positions, Babin said.

“The G20 Summit in Osaka did not bring any happy breakthroughs. The meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Trump finished with promises to improve relations. British Prime Minister Theresa May again said that improvement of relations with Moscow is impossible until Russia repents for an attempt to poison the Skripal family, even though all evidence is still classified,” Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Kochetkov also said that shares of internet giant Yandex outperformed the market and lost only 0.19% to 2,405.40 rubles on the news that the Digital Development Ministry wants to oblige smartphone and tablet manufacturers to preinstall local applications on imported devices.

Shares of steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) slumped 6.33% to 159.70 rubles after Fletcher Group Holdings, controlled by NLMK’s CEO and Vladimir Lisin, sold about 2.6% in the company. The market usually is very cautious when the core shareholders sell their shares, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+0.10	232.83	9.928
Sberbank	-0.81	238.55	8.003
Lukoil	-1.39	5305.00	4.151
NLMK	-6.33	159.70	4.043
ALROSA	-1.49	86.04	1.527

(63.0452 rubles – U.S. $1)

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