Russian stocks fall on Chinese coronavirus, government rumors

MOSCOW, Jan 21 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks declined on Tuesday as the market was worried about an outbreak of coronavirus in China, and reports about changes in the Russian government, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.33% to 3,209.22, and the RTS index declined 0.75% to 1,634.32.

“The Russian stock market has started correcting today. Both the external and internal news background favored this. The worries about the influence of another coronavirus on the economy strengthened in the Asian region. Moody’s cut the rating of Hong Kong from AA2 to AA3. Industrial metals and oil prices fell,” Otkritie Broker senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

“Besides, media reported that (acting) Finance Minister Anton Siluanov can lose the post of the (first) deputy prime minister in the new cabinet. Presidential aide Andrei Belousov, who offered to levy an additional tax on superprofits of metals producers, can take his post,” the analyst said, adding that metals producers lost most on Tuesday.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that Brent and WTI fell by about 1.5% and the decline accelerated amid global flight from risk.

The European markets fell following the Asian floors, as investors were afraid of an outbreak of coronavirus in China, which can take its toll on tourism on the Lunar New Year. The U.S. stocks futures were in the red zone, she said.

Alexander Osin, head of investment company Freedom Finance’s department for operations on the Russian stock market, said that MMK performed worse than the rest of the market, falling 2.8% after publishing a report reflecting the deterioration of the key production figures.

VTB led the market as its executives promised to pay 50% of the net profit in dividends for 2019.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.67	268.06	10.116
VTB	+3.74	0.04981	7.722
Gazprom	-0.2	252.99	6.808
Surgutneftegas	-3.93	52.04	4.636
Magnit	-0.39	3840	4.362

(61.4654 – U.S. $1)

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