Russian stocks fall on fears of further sales on August 8

MOSCOW, Aug 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Friday as investors expect deeper sales after the Moscow Exchange grants access for foreigners from the friendly countries on August 8, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 2.94% to 2,054.29 and the RTS decreased 2.94% to 1,072.31.

“Expectations of an inflow of new players triggered sales in the Russian shares,” Otkritie Research’s leading analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

The market expects an inflow of foreign players to cause market-wide sales and withdrawal of these investors from the Russian market. It is difficult to evaluate the flight of money, as the system of verification of these players is non-transparent, Kochetkov said.

Kochetkov also said that gas giant Gazprom lost 4.50% to 176.58 rubles as delivery of the Siemens turbine from Germany for the Nord Stream pipeline is still under question. Even if it is delivered, the necessity for other turbines to undergo maintenance and repairs will prevent significant growth of pumping through the pipeline, and the company is unable to profit from the high gas prices in Europe, he said.

BCS World of Investment’s stock market expert Dmitry Babin said that in addition to that, automatic conversion of depositary receipts into shares of Russian companies is to start on August 15, and all of the new market players may start selling their shares and bonds and convert the money into foreign currency, dragging the ruble down as well.

Yelena Kozhukhova of Veles Capital said that the background for the Russian market was mixed as the U.S. bourses fell as employment in the country’s non-agriculture sector sped up in July, which raises the possibility of another increase of rates by the Federal Reserve System. The European bourses also eased, but the oil market provided positive momentum as the Brent oil price rose by 2% in the evening in an upward correction, she said.

The shares of gold producer Seligdar outperformed the market and lost only 0.21% to 42.81 rubles without any fundamental reason, but the securities received some momentum for growth at the end of July when the Moscow Exchange upgraded them to the tier 1 quotation list, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-4.50	176.58	8.767
Sberbank	-3.58	122.40	7.581
Yandex	-8.15	1837.00	2.583
Norilsk Nickel	-2.15	14394.00	1.586
Lukoil	-1.09	3679.50	1.401

(60.2580 rubles – U.S. $1)

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