Russian stocks fall dragged by worsened foreign background

MOSCOW, Feb 26 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday in the wake of deterioration of the foreign background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.02% to 2,494.02 and the RTS decreased 0.71% to 1,193.07.

“After nine weeks of relative optimism, markets did not have expectations that would justify aggressive purchases. China and the U.S. are close to a deal. However, right after this, Washington could start a trade war with Europe. The Russian market also keeps uncertainty in the form of future U.S. restrictions. Correspondingly, external negative supported sales of domestic stocks,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Freedom Finance analyst Anastasia Sosnova said the foreign background sharply worsened. The Asian market closed with a decline of 0.4–0.7%. The optimism about the postponement of the deadline for a temporary trade truce disappeared after U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that the trade deal may not take place. The U.S. indices opened in the red zone.

Metals giant Norilsk Nickel dropped 1.19% despite reporting that its net profit rose 44% to U.S. $3.059 billion in 2018, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

The second biggest lender VTB fell 1.21% despite reporting that its IFRS net profit jumped 48.9% to 178.8 billion rubles in 2018.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.03	205.80	10.380
Lukoil	+0.33	5551.00	3.280
Norilsk Nickel	-1.19	14420.00	2.935
Gazprom	+0.49	155.36	2.823
Rosneft	+0.63	399.00	1.229

(65.2582 rubles – U.S. $1)

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