Russian stocks fall in line with foreign bourses, oil prices

MOSCOW, Nov 2 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks contracted on Thursday in line with foreign bourses and oil prices, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.47% to 2,073.04 and the RTS decreased 0.69% to 1,118.66.

“On Thursday, the Russian market consolidated around 2,070 of the MICEX index following the Asian and European floors…The reason for the sales was the Brent oil price and excessive investor caution prior to announcement of a new U.S. Federal Reserve System’s chairman by the U.S. president after the end of trade,” Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

The Brent oil price lost 0.166% to U.S. $60.39 per barrel as of 6.22 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The MICEX was in the same boat with the world indices today…The results of the Fed’s meeting came out as expected. The regulator has indirectly confirmed the intent to raise the basic rate in December…The market does not rule out the possibility of John Taylor becoming the Fed chairman, and he is notorious for his aggressive stance towards the monetary policy. This fact restrained stock assets,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that a strong ruble and lower prices for commercial metals had a negative impact on shares of metals companies. Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) fell 0.81% to 43.645 rubles and steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel lost 1.18% to 132.45 rubles.

The contraction of oil prices resulted in a decrease in shares of oil companies, Kochetkov said. Rosneft and Surgutneftegas contracted 1.42% to 318.50 rubles and 1.93% to 29.195 rubles, respectively.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Thursday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.10	193.85	6.542
Norilsk Nickel	+2.71	11350.00	5.672
Magnit	-3.15	7370.00	4.041
Aeroflot	-0.24	164.50	2.558
Gazprom	-0.66	125.67	1.956

(58.1557 rubles – U.S. $1)

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