Russian stocks fall on announcement of partial mobilization

MOSCOW, Sep 21 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Wednesday in light of the announcement of partial mobilization, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell by 3.83% to 2,130.71, and the RTS Index fell by 4.10% to 1,106.82.

“The trading session started with a deep fall to 2,002 at the MOEX Russia Index on President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization. However, the negative background was formed the day before and the announcement was not that unexpected, so many investors used the low start to close short positions,” Otkritie Research’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

Artyom Tuzov, an executive director at IVA Partners Investment Group, said investors managed to analyze the morning news better and started purchases by the end of the day.

The situation on the stock market continues to be turbulent as there are no significant positive news for investors, Tuzov added.

Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said that the market experienced additional pressure from expectations of a steep rise in the key rate of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) System, as well as uncertainty about a hike in taxes for the oil and gas sector.

Polyus lost 5.45% on the report of a 19% fall in revenue in January–June, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-3.12	214.25	20.261
Sberbank	-4.16	119.89	15.772
Lukoil	-2.47	3955	5.675
Yandex	-6.02	1889	4.012
Rosneft	-5.56	312.5	3.749

(60.0158 rubles – U.S. $1)

End