Russian stocks fall on Trump’s statements, drop in oil price

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Friday on the back of statements by U.S. President Donald Trump at a news conference on Thursday in the evening, and due to a falling oil price, analysts said.

The MICEX decreased 0.94% to 2,128.21 and the RTS fell 2.03% to 1,152.21.

“The Russian-American relations rhetoric obviously does not live up to the hopes of their soon improvement. Developing markets are looking quite weak in the end of the trading week, and oil is at risk to finish the week with losses,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

“Therefore, decrease was the main trend on the Russian market on Friday. Even a weakening ruble was of no use because profit taking does not assume keeping the status quo,” Kochetkov said.

Trump said, when asked about his alleged connections with Moscow, that he has “done nothing for Russia.” He added that the reaction by former President Barack Obama to Crimea’s joining Russia was far too mild. According to Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova, these comments pressurized the Russian market.

Brent oil decreased below U.S. $55.5 per barrel. According to Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich, this, together with a decline on European markets, shaped a negative trend on the Russian market.

Kirsanova said that oil and gas sector shares were among the market outsiders.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.60	165.49	5.403
Gazprom	-0.75	138.12	4.441
Norilsk Nickel	-2.38	9720.00	2.600
Lukoil	-1.04	3198.50	2.110
Rosneft	-2.21	354.00	2.040

(57.1507 rubles – U.S. $1)

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