Russian stocks fall on US–China tensions, Belarusian crisis

MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks fell on Monday as Western investors were worried with the U.S.–China dispute and with possible consequences of the Belarusian political crisis, analysts said

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.31% to 3,052.46 and the RTS decreased 1.14% to 1,308.71.

“The external background was distressing. The Chinese indices ignored tensions in the relations with the U.S. and grew due to a 700 billion Chinese yuan injection into the financial system of the People’s Bank under the mid-term lending program, but investors in Europe were concerned about that,” Andrei Kochetkov, lead analyst at Otkritie Broker for global research, said.

“Revision of the (U.S.–China) trade deal did not happen last Saturday, but was delayed indefinitely. The U.S. president also said that he was ready to ramp up pressure on the Chinese technology companies.”

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said in the first half of the session, the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index grew to their highest for the past several weeks of 3,090 and 1,336, respectively, but started falling afterwards on the lack of important factors that favored purchases.

But Valery Yemelyanov, analyst at Freedom Finance, said that the background was positive for the Russian market, as the NAHB housing market index in the U.S. hit a record high in August, causing the S&P500 index to grow to annual highs. The Asian floors rose, the MSCI Emerging Markets gained by about 1% showing consistent demand for assets of emerging countries, and even the Brent oil price gained more than 0.5% and climbed above U.S. $45 per barrel.

“Given such a ‘green’ background, the Russian market fell … and securities of all leading industries contracted. This may mean that the today’s correction has a political implication. Foreigners are selling national shares in fear of escalation of tensions between Russia and the West due to the political crisis in Belarus,” Yemelyanov said.

Kochetkov also said that gold producer Petropavlovsk Plc was among the gain leaders adding 8.19% to 33.54 rubles as CEO Pavel Maslovsky, who was in the center of a corporate conflict, quit.

Yemelyanov also said that internet giant Yandex and tech giant Mail.Ru Group grew 2.42% to 4,496 rubles and 1.26% to 2,106 rubles, respectively, because both securities are to be included into the MSCI indices.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.24	237.01	17.808
Yandex	+2.42	4496.00	10.368
Gazprom	-1.57	189.81	10.314
Norilsk Nickel	-0.89	20600.00	5.686
Polyus	+3.93	18103.50	4.439

(73.2157 rubles – U.S. $1)

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