Russian stocks fall in correction after week of historic highs

MOSCOW, Jun 21 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell in correction on Friday after renewing historic highs during the week, as investors preferred to take profit ahead of the weekend, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.68% to 2,761.23 and the RTS Index decreased 1.16% to 1,375.02.

“On Friday, Russian indices opened downwards and continued to give up positions amid a moderately negative foreign background. Although it (the background) began to systematically improve immediately after our opening, we did not observe much enthusiasm. Probably, ahead of the weekend many (investors) sought to take profit around new historic highs,” BCS Broker expert Dmitry Babin said.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that trading in the U.S. started with a decline of three main indices, which were gaining 0.1–0.3% by the end of the Russian session. Trading in Europe was held on a moderately pessimistic note.

After a reduction at the beginning of the day, oil quotations were adding around 1% by the end of the day.

Gold producer Polyus was among growth leaders rising by 2.96% on higher gold prices. Common and preferred shares of oil company Bashneft lost 9.02% and 6.39%, respectively, on a dividend gap.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.49	238.02	14.650
Gazprom	-1.48	229.09	10.838
Lukoil	+0.34	5338.00	8.210
Norilsk Nickel	-0.31	14180.00	3.822
Tatneft	-1.6	776.80	2.485

(63.3877 rubles – U.S. $1)

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