MOSCOW, May 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Thursday, following a slump on the foreign markets after a speech by Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) Jerome Powell, analysts said.
The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.56% to 2,590.31, and the RTS index decreased 0.67% to 1,102.98.
"The Russian market’s trading session was influenced by the disappointment with the speech of Chairman of the U.S. Fed Powell. He said yesterday that the economic recovery might be protracted and would require additional fiscal efforts," Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.
Dmitry Bedenkov, head of the research department of investment company Russ-Invest, said that key foreign indices decreased with U.S. market falling by 1.6–2.2%. "The markets perceived the speech by head of the Fed Powell negatively," Bedenkov said.
Powell said he firmly opposed negative interest rates despite an earlier advice by President Donald Trump to cut the Fed rate to the negative zone. Powell was skeptical about a U-turn in the economy and called for tax stimuli and advocated cautiousness in using new monetary stimuli.
Bedenkov said that the Asian and European markets fell as well.
He said that the pandemic statistics improved a bit with the total number of contagions rising by 81,600 people on Tuesday after 82,500 on Monday but Russia remained second after the U.S. with 10,000 new cases after 10,900 on Monday.
The analyst said that Brent added 2.7% to U.S. $30.3 per barrel as the U.S. Energy Department reported a decrease of oil reserves over the week.
According to Bedenkov, the global depositary receipts of TCS Group rose 0.85% on the news of a 26% rise in January–March net profit.
Kochetkov said that Moscow Exchange sagged 8.5% on the news about postponed dividends.
Below are the MOEX Russia Index’s five most active stocks on Thursday:
| Company | Change, % | Last price, rbl | Trading volume, bln rbl |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sberbank | -1.87 | 183.81 | 14.232 |
| Gazprom | -0.16 | 183.91 | 9.040 |
| Lukoil | +1.06 | 4870 | 7.119 |
| Norilsk Nickel | -3.17 | 20104 | 5.820 |
| Surgutneftegas | +7.78 | 39.28 | 4.235 |
(73.5819 rubles – U.S. $1)
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