Russian stocks fall on fears of inflation, weak crude

MOSCOW, Nov 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Friday, pressured by investor fears of inflation and falling crude oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.62% to 4,121.66 and the RTS decreased 3.79% to 1,784.28.

“Bearish sentiment prevailed on the Russian stock market today. The MOEX Russia Index weakened markedly, following investor fears of rising inflation as well as falling oil prices, following OPEC’s announcement of a reduction in demand for the commodity in October–December,” Yegor Zhilnikov, chief analyst at PSB Bank, said.

“Practically the entire oil and gas sector was falling today. Along with oil and gas companies, the financial sector was also under pressure, following the pessimistic sentiment in the market, and the technology sector also looked weaker than the market on average,” Zhilnikov said.

“The Moscow Exchange and RTS indices were significantly down by the end of trading, … dropping to their minimums since early October, due to pressure from lower oil prices, profit taking by a number of issuers and increased geopolitical tensions,” Yelena Kozhukhova of Veles Capital said.

According to Kozhukhova, Rosneft shares corrected along with oil quotes today, despite the company’s record IFRS results released for January–September.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-3.59	334.98	39.199
Surgutneftegas	+12.56	45.31	37.283
Sberbank	-1.93	349.37	32.886
Lukoil	-2.59	6910.5	12.301
Surgutneftegas pref	+1.52	40.5	9.016

(71.1964 rubles – U.S. $1)

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