Russian stocks fall catching up with oil prices

MOSCOW, May 10 (PRIME) --Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday because oil prices fell from their local highs, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.85% to 1,885.34 and the RTS decreased 1.63% to 897.11.

“The oil price fell significantly from Friday’s levels to below U.S. $44 and investors cannot help but notice it,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analytical department, said that the Russian stock market, which was closed on Monday for Victory Day celebrations, was put under pressure by the news that Saudi Arabia had replaced Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi with Khalid al-Falih, who plans to maintain the Saudi oil policy.

Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said that state-run oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, which said it is ready to meet government’s requirements on 2015 dividends, rose 0.48% to 208,200 rubles per preferred share.

According to a ruling recently signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a state company should take the highest figure of its net profit for 2015 – under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) or under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) – and allocate no less than 50% of the net profit for dividends.

Veles Capital’s analyst Alexander Kostyukov said that Russian metals producers decreased on the back of falling steel prices in China. Steel producer Severstal fell 4.93% to 686.4 rubles and another steel company Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) went down 4.25% to 83.40 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.90	119.55	7.920
Gazprom	-1.52	156.85	4.558
Lukoil	-1.65	2585.50	2.791
Norilsk Nickel	+0.63	8815.00	1.806
Rosneft	-1.67	323.50	1.379

(66.1928 rubles – U.S. $1)

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