Russian stocks fall on Chinese economic mishaps, inflation woes

MOSCOW, Oct 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Monday as disappointing economic statistics from China and expansion of inflationary expectations in the U.S. prompted sales on the national market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.32% to 4,248.33 and the RTS decreased 0.79% to 1,876.56.

“On Monday, the MOEX Russia Index opened slightly lower and consolidated in a 4,230–4,260 range. The blue chips of the Russian market exerted pressure on the index due to worsening of the external background caused by weak GDP data from China and higher inflationary expectations in the U.S.,” Yegor Zhilnikov, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, said.

Gas giant Gazprom, independent gas producer Novatek, oil major Rosneft, and top bank Sberbank lost 0.75%, 0.35%, 0.69%, and 1.79%, respectively in a downward correction from their highs exerting the strongest pressure on the Russian market, Zhilnikov said.

“The Russian market has fallen insignificantly since the first half of the day. The main pressure points were the Chinese statistics and the growth of yield on the U.S. treasuries, which leads to strengthening of the U.S. dollar,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global analysis at Otkritie Research, said.

“The Chinese GDP slowed down its increase to 4.9% in the third quarter while expectations stood at 5.2%, while industry expansion went down to 3.1% (in September) from 5.3% in August.”

At the same time, high oil prices and positive corporate stories protect the market from more significant sales, Kochetkov said.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova also said that metals and mining group Mechel and coal producer Raspadskaya gained 4.37% and 4.03%, respectively, on high coal prices, while steelmaker Severstal added 3.98% due to its robust financial performance. The company’s net profit skyrocketed to U.S. $3.097 billion in January–September, while earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) more than doubled to $4.532 billion.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.75	364.99	14.222
Sberbank	-1.79	365.15	13.177
ALROSA	-6.73	128.66	8.315
Severstal	+3.98	1630.00	5.382
Lukoil	+0.50	7343.00	4.670

(71.2371 rubles – U.S. $1)

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