Russian stocks fall on Greek debt talks’ failure, weaker ruble

MOSCOW, Jun 24 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Wednesday being pressured by reduction on Western bourses caused by a failure of Greece bailout negotiations and amid the ruble depreciation as well, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.32% to 1,651.85 and the RTS decreased 1.33% to 951.45.

“Having ignored a recent external positive (mood), the Russian market decreased today following the European indexes and the U.S. stock index futures. A recent euphoria on Western markets is giving place to correction sales amid reports that Greece so far fails to reach an agreement with a group of creditors in order to receive a financial aid again and avoid an oncoming default,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

“The ruble remains under pressure despite a tax period in Russia. Exporters not only fail to strengthen it by selling currency revenue, but do not even manage to curb the pace of the national currency’s reduction,” Profit Group analyst Vladimir Chernov said.

Retail chain Lenta was among outsiders having fallen by 6% following reports that the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) sold 17.833 million global depositary receipts (GDR) of the company at U.S. $7.85 per paper, Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

Fertilizer maker Uralkali decreased 3.32% on reports that the company plans a delisting on the London Stock Exchange, Veles Capital’s analyst Vasily Tanurkov said.

Metals and mining group Mechel went down 3.49% despite reports that it reached debt restructuring agreements with VTB Bank and Gazprombank and on weak operating and financial results for January–March, Manzhos said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.04	71.98	4.061
Gazprom	+0.29	146.68	2.701
VTB	-0.63	0.7790	2.415
Lukoil	-0.97	2445.00	2.041
Norilsk Nickel	-0.56	9450.00	1.925

(54.2081 rubles – U.S. $1)

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