Russian stocks fall on US–China talks worries, N Stream-2 sanctions

MOSCOW, Dec 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Tuesday as investors worldwide started to worry about the outcome of the U.S.–China trade negotiations on the lack of news with the U.S. sanctions on Russian pipeline project Nord Stream-2 possibly contributing to the dynamics, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.43% to 2,932.40, and the RTS Index decreased 0.18% to 1,454.23.

“Negative market mood is strengthening. We are heading towards December 15, when (U.S. President) Donald Trump promised to raise tariffs for U.S. $156 billion of Chinese exports. The participants of the U.S.–China trade negotiations offer no new statements, and in fact, their content never changes,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

According to the latest media statements, China insisted on abolishment of the earlier introduced duties and the U.S. on firm elevated amount of agricultural goods’ purchases.

Kochetkov said that the news that the U.S. Congress included sanctions against Nord Stream-2 and TurkStream in the 2020 defense budget was probably another negative factor for the Russian market.

Sergei Suverov, senior analyst at BCS Premier, said that the fact that the sanctions do not contain any restrictions on the Russian state debt and that the measure is unlikely to be considered before the presidential elections is important and positive for the Russian market.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-0.72	246.9	8.628
Sberbank	+0.37	237.91	8.592
Lukoil	-1.41	6095	5.165
Norilsk Nickel	+0.31	18478	3.801
ALROSA	+1.95	81.15	2.763

(63.7244 – U.S. $1)

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