Russian stocks fall on fears of mid-term decline in oil prices

MOSCOW, Oct 26 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Monday amid the absence of growth drivers, fears that oil prices will fall in the medium term, and weakening of the ruble, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.77% to 1,712.13 and the RTS decreased 1.70% to 858.01.

“Most blue chips fell by the end of the trading session. Rising concerns about dynamics of oil in the medium term may be one of the depressing factors,” Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said.

“The oil weakening to U.S. $47.8 put the ruble and shares of oil and companies under pressure,” he said.

The fall of the dollar-denominated RTS was technically sped up by the ruble weakening to over 62.8 against the dollar by the closing bell.

The stock market took a break in the first half of the day due to a lack of growth drivers and waiting for U.S. statistics, but later sales dominated the market, Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at Finam, said.

Shares of national top lender Sberbank rose 2.05% as market participants anticipate a key rate reduction at a Friday meeting of its board of directors, as well because of the fact that China’s central bank decreased its key rate by 25 basis points on October 24, Kostyukov said.

Oil and gas company Surgutneftegas and oil major Lukoil decreased 2.47% and 1.66%, respectively, put under pressure by low oil prices, Kostyukov said.

Fertilizer producer Uralkali fell 1.44% as investors were disappointed by a recent decision of the board of directors to set the price of a share buyback for shareholders, opposing a range of large deals and changes to the company’s charter, at 158.63 rubles per security, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

The Moscow Exchange grew 3.37% after the shares reached a new long-term maximum that created a technical stimulus for a bullish trend, Manzhos said.

Troubled airline Transaero, which said it will file for bankruptcy to court, decreased 28.88%.

Grocery retailer Magnit, whose earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and EBITDA margin for July–September, released by the company, did not meet investors’ expectations, decreased 6.01%.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Monday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.05	92.30	14.156
Gazprom	-0.32	138.50	4.558
Lukoil	-1.66	2298.00	2.743
Magnit	-6.01	10809.00	2.600
Norilsk Nickel	-0.36	9700.00	2.194

(61.9286 rubles – U.S. $1)

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