Russian stocks fall as investors take profits before holidays

MOSCOW, Apr 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market eased on low volumes on Saturday as investors took profits before the long holidays that will last through May 2, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.18% to 2,297.30 and the RTS Index decreased 0.26% to 1,164.09.

“In general, sales prevailed on the market, to say more exactly, consolidation of profit after a positive week,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said that the majority of securities were slightly falling on a low trading volume as investors were preparing for long holidays.

Kochetkov said that global depositary receipts (GDR) of En+ were in focus of investor attention after key owner Oleg Deripaska decided to reduce the stake in the company below 50% and quit the board of directors. RUSAL grew 1.51% although Deripaska’s step will not necessarily lead to cancellation of the sanctions against the company.

Kirsanova said that Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) rose 0.86% after the board of directors recommended paying almost the entire free cash flow in dividends for January–March.

ALROSA increased 0.13% after a statement that the supervisory board will consider distribution of the net profit of last years in dividends.

X5 Retail Group’s GDRs rose 0.19% after Friday’s sell-off on the back of a weak financial report.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.4	224.8	2.308
Rosneft	+0.26	381	0.508
Lukoil	-0.8	4178.5	0.352
Gazprom	-0.14	144.3	0.326
En+ Group	+34.55	407	0.288

(62.7260 rubles – U.S. $1)

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