Russian stocks fall as oil prices drop on US oil reserves hike

MOSCOW, Dec 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Wednesday in line with oil prices, which switched to a downward trend by the end of the trading session, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.50% to 2,212.33 and the RTS decreased 0.15% to 1,140.88.

“The main Russian stock indices showed negative dynamics on Wednesday. The sales were caused by dynamics of the energy market, which corrected in the second half of the day, with Brent oil reaching the level of U.S. $55 (per barrel),” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

Brent lost 0.4% as the Russian market closed after the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported that the U.S. oil reserves rose by 2.3 million barrels last week to 485.4 million barrels. Analysts polled by Reuters expected the reserves to fall by 2.525 million barrels to 480.69 million barrels.

The statistics of the American Petroleum Institute earlier indicated that the U.S. oil reserves decreased by 4.1 million barrels last week, which encouraged growth of Brent during almost the entire trading day.

Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova also said that “activity on the Russian market has noticeably slowed ahead of the Christmas holidays: investors are taking profits and rebalancing portfolios.”

Retailer O’Key grew by 5.5% on rumors that the company’s owners are holding talks to sell their stakes in the company, Kirsanova said.

Shares of real estate developers LSR Group and PIK Group gained 1.14% and 0.04%, respectively, after a recent statement by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak that the government plans to prolong a program for subsidization of the interest rate of mortgage loans for households, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.68	174.71	16.488
Gazprom	-1.44	153.06	3.506
Lukoil	+0.7	3439.00	2.730
Norilsk Nickel	-0.54	10194.00	2.336
Bashneft	-0.79	3533.00	2.079

(61.7967 rubles – U.S. $1)

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