Russian stocks fall as investors take profit prior to OPEC meeting

MOSCOW, Nov 29 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Wednesday in spite of a favorable external background as investors took profits prior to the Thursday’s meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC states, which will decide on the fate of prolongation of a production cut deal, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.18% to 2,124.08 and the RTS decreased 1.27% to 1,144.68.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index remained in the red zone at the end of trade…It is likely that investors were very cautious and tried to take profits prior to the OPEC meeting, even though the background did not favor any sales,” Yelena Kozhukhova, an analyst at Veles Broker, said.

Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, also said that background for the Russian market was favorable, as oil prices remained almost flat by the end of the day after the U.S. Department of Energy released its data on hydrocarbon reserves.

“The upward dynamics in Europe and the U.S. prevailed. In the Old World, major indices grew within 1% by the closing bell, while in the U.S. Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices rose 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively, after the first 30 minutes of trade,” Zvarich said, adding that the MOEX Russia index fell to its mid-term upward trend level of 2,100 and bulls may try to send the market up from this mark.

Andre Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said a ruling by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to work out the legal basis for introduction of the added income tax for hydrocarbon fields was one of the drivers to push hydrocarbon producing companies down.

As a result, gas giant Gazprom lost 1.21% to 133.55 rubles, oil majors Lukoil and Rosneft lost 1.03% to 3,308.50 rubles and 2.27% to 294.45 rubles, respectively, and independent gas producer Novatek fell 1.81% to 666.40 rubles, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.78	228.20	7.857
Gazprom	-1.21	133.55	3.645
Lukoil	-1.03	3308.50	2.261
Magnit	-1.09	6380.00	1.818
Norilsk Nickel	-1.11	10107.00	1.601

(58.4125 rubles – U.S. $1)

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