Russian stocks fall hit by rising global geopolitical tensions

MOSCOW, May 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Thursday on rising tensions between Russia and the U.S. despite oil prices breaking through U.S. $80 per barrel and a number of strong financial reports of local companies, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.64% to 2,323.51 and the RTS went down 0.69% to 1,181.61.

“The Russian stock market consolidated within a narrow range… Although the Brent oil price is close to $80 per barrel and even managed to break through the psychologically important mark, the threat of further escalation of tensions between Moscow and Washington prevented investors from buying Russian stocks,” Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

The State Duma, the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, passed a bill on countersanctions against the U.S. in the second reading, while U.S. President Donald Trump authorized State Secretary Mike Pompeo to prepare a new list of sanctions against Russia over alleged violation the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by deploying a ground-based cruise missile.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said global investors’ risk appetite keeps on falling as the yield of the U.S.’ 10-year treasuries has reached 3.1% on expectations of four key rate hikes this year.

The negative environment pushed most Russian blue chips down. Oil major Rosneft slid 2.04% to 381.85 rubles, top lender Sberbank lost 1.63% to 226.05 rubles, and gas giant Gazprom dropped 0.97% to 147.15 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.63	226.05	9.918
Lukoil	-1.27	4354.00	2.957
Gazprom	-0.97	147.15	2.844
Magnit	-0.12	5164.00	2.390
Norilsk Nickel	-0.09	10790.00	2.111

(62.3033 rubles – U.S. $1)

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