Russian stocks fall on Chinese PMI, Sberbank shares decrease

MOSCOW, Apr 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed in the red zone on Tuesday as investors preferred to take profit before long holidays in May on the back of a fall of the purchasing managers' index (PMI) in China and a decrease of Sberbank’s shares, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.41% to 2,559.32, and the RTS Index decreased 0.52% to 1,248.39.

“The main bad news came from China where business activity indices for April turned out to be below expectations and worse than the March figures. Oil and metals companies were under the main pressure, but the negative influence on the market was not limited to that: Sberbank’s shares lost,” Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Sberbank’s net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 6.8% on the year in January–March after 27.3% in the same period of 2018. Kochetkov said: “We saw doubling of the net profit over the last three years but there is no hope for such groundbreaking growth for the next three years.”

Vasily Oleinik, expert at investment company Finam, said that the market participants preferred to take profit ahead of the long holidays of May.

Russia will celebrate May Day on May 1, 2 and 3.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.59	225.17	14.339
Gazprom	+0.01	163.95	5.150
Lukoil	-0.74	5511	5.086
Magnit	+2.47	3720	2.735
Norilsk Nickel	-1.02	14342	2.237

(64.6917 rubles – U.S. $1)

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