Russian stocks fall dragged by decline on Western floors

MOSCOW, Jun 18 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Thursday pressured by negative dynamics of Western floors, while ignoring growing oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.58% to 2,724.33 and the RTS also decreased 0.58% to 1,230.71.

“On Thursday, the Russian stock market continued to retreat from local highs amid a mixed foreign background. Sales in our assets were facilitated by the dynamics of Western floors. In Europe, main indices were falling within 0.7% by the evening, while in the U.S., after first hours of trading, Dow Jones and S&P500 retreated by 0.1%,” Promsvyazbank chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

“At the same time, the situation on the energy market, where the nearest futures for Brent crude oil rose to U.S. $41.3 per barrel, restrained the decline in our shares,” he added.

Payment system operator Qiwi was among growth leaders, adding 7.48% on reports about the sale of its consumer lending business Sovest to Sovcombank, Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

National flagship carrier Aeroflot’s shares lost 4.71% pressured by reports about a possible capital boost via an additional share offering, which will lead to a dilution of the minority stake.

Top lender Sberbank went down 2.1% after the central bank’s Deputy Chairwoman Olga Polyakova said that the regulator will monitor the recommendation given to banks not to pay dividends for 2019, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.1	203.77	14.802
Gazprom	-1.46	193.00	8.862
Norilsk Nickel	-1.71	18926.00	7.046
Lukoil	+0.07	5347.00	6.552
Aeroflot	-4.71	81.00	5.303

(69.4822 rubles – U.S. $1)

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