Russian stocks fall on Europe’s banking slump, profit taking

MOSCOW, Mar 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Friday on the back of slumping banking shares abroad and traditional pre-weekend profit taking, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.61% to 2,276.25 and the RTS decreased 0.86% to 942.75.

“Flight from risk persisted on the foreign stock floors on Friday before the release of the key data on the U.S. labor market’s condition in February, which will most likely have a serious impact on the financial and commodity markets,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The futures for the main U.S. stock indices fell as investors were waiting for reaction to the U.S. labor market statistics, while the European bourses were undermined additionally by slumping banking sector after U.S. banks Silicon Valley Bank and Silvergate Capital disclosed their problems, Kozhukhova said.

Dmitry Postolenko, head of managing company Pervaya’s department for fixed income securities management, said that profit taking before the weekend could also have an impact on the Russian market.

“The Brent oil price fell in the first half of the day, but then did a U-turn and grew in the evening. We connected that to the news that Saudi Arabia and Iran resumed diplomatic relations, which could mean that they have plans for coordination of actions on the oil market. But the recovery of oil prices had no impact on the Russian shares,” Freedom Finance Global’s analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

The preferred shares of oil company Bashneft gained 2.27% to 855 rubles on expectations of high dividend payments, and metals and mining group Mechel rose by 3.40% to 140.77 rubles in reaction to an increase of demand for coal in China, she said.

But Moscow Exchange lost 5.06% to 117.01 rubles. The bourse’s financial results and dividend recommendations for 2022 underwhelmed investors, Milchakova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.01	172.56	7.697
Moscow Exchange	-5.06	117.01	4.134
Gazprom	-0.63	160.20	2.513
Lukoil	-0.62	4079.50	1.541
Novatek	-0.32	1070.00	1.438

(75.9028 rubles – U.S. $1)

End