Russian stocks fall as ruble rise lowers investors’ appetite

MOSCOW, May 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Friday because the oil price growth was weak and did not offset a negative effect from strengthening of the ruble, which made local assets unattractive, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.40% to 1,994.58 and the RTS decreased 0.55% to 1,099.75.

“Sellers got the upper hand with buyers on the back of an elevated volatility of fuel prices and a restart of the ruble strengthening. A situation when investors are unready to risk and buy Russian shares, fearing for weakening of the ruble has emerged,” Alfa-Capital analyst Andrei Shenk said.

Finam analyst Timur Nigmatullin said that the influence of the external factors on the Russian market was ambivalent as the U.S. indices fell on weak retailers’ reports and fears of a tougher monetary policy by the Federal Reserve System, the European composite Stoxx 600 index was almost flat.

Brent approached U.S. $51 but did not continue the growth ahead of publication of U.S. drilling rig figures, according to Sergei Melnikov, chief analyst at Forex broker Global FX.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the Russian market optimism of the last few months has faded away: the dividend stories of Russian companies have already reached a resolution, while the outlooks on the Russian economy are not too cheerful.

In this context, the MICEX is heading for its spring minimums in the framework of a short-term decrease trend, he said.

Kochetkov said that Gazprom advanced on the news that the domestic tariffs can rise by 4% in July.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.34	167.7	6.287
Gazprom	+1.07	132.5	3.141
Lukoil	+0.56	2856	1.579
ALROSA	-1.46	93.09	1.352
Norilsk Nickel	-1.12	8405	1.288

(57.1161 rubles – U.S. $1)

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