Russian stocks fall on coup attempt, EU’s 11th round of sanctions

MOSCOW, Jun 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Monday as investors priced in the June 24 insurrection attempt, while approval of the 11th round of sanctions by the E.U. hurt the shares of metals companies, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell by 1.36% to 2,757.13 and the RTS decreased 1.79% to 1,021.38.

“The Russian stock indices have been in the red zone since the start of trade on June 26, and the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index fell in reaction to the whirlwind of political news of the past Saturday,” Natalya Milchakova, leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global, said.

“At the same time, the Russian bourse experienced no panic or a slump, and the events of June 24 faded into the background later in the day, and dynamics of the shares and the ruble rate were defined by the FATF’s decision not to include Russia into the black lists or gray lists.”

Instability of the oil market also acted as a negative factor for the Russian shares, she added.

“The Russian market was in the red zone on Monday, and this investor reaction to the recent internal events was expected, but the depth of the fall was unclear,” Otkritie Broker’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

The metals and mining sector lost more than 1.8% largely because of the 11th round of E.U.’s anti-Russian sanctions, which encompasses a ban on imports of steel and iron derived from Russian components. The forecasts for the Chinese economy also worsened, and it usually has a negative impact on the prices of metals, Kochetkov said.

Steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) lost 2.44% to 167.18 rubles and metals giant Norilsk Nickel shrank by 0.15% to 14,966 rubles.

Freedom Finance Global’s analyst Vladimir Chernov said that the preferred shares of oil company Surgutneftegas grew by 5.90% to 39.15 rubles as they received support from the recent weakening of the ruble and the slight growth of oil prices.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.80	237.55	11.127
Surgutneftegas prefs	+5.90	39.15	3.921
Lukoil	+0.53	5056.50	3.311
MTS	+1.78	345.80	3.246
Gazprom	+0.73	167.01	3.043

(84.0793 rubles – U.S. $1)

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