Russian stocks fall discouraged by sliding foreign exchanges

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down on Monday despite strengthening crude prices, as it was pressured by a discouraging external background with most of Europe’s and U.S. stock exchanges seen in the negative territory, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index slid 0.40% to 2,393.81 and the RTS fell 0.59% to 1,114.75.

“The MOEX Russia Index started the day gap up, but… reversed into the red territory later in the day pulled by a negative environment of Western floors,” Veles Capital analyst Alexei Adonin said.

The Brent crude price bounced back to above U.S. $71 per barrel to win back previous losses in the light of Saudi Arabia’s promises to reduce production in December.

Gas giant Gazprom lost 1.5% to 150.89 rubles on the news that a Swiss court had forbidden Nord Stream AG and Nord Stream 2 AG to proceed with any payments to the company, which is their shareholder, as a restrictive measure requested by Ukrainian energy holding Naftogaz Ukrainy.

National flagship carrier Aeroflot was among the top performers adding 1.85% to 96.9 rubles thanks to strong operating data marking a 12.6% rise in the passenger traffic in October.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank, common	+0.55	196.82	16.405
Gazprom	-1.5	150.89	2.777
Lukoil	+0.68	5129	2.684
Rosneft	-1.09	463.5	1.137
Sberbank, preferred	+0.72	171.11	1.110

(66.8497 rubles – U.S. $1)

End