Russian stocks fall on foreign stock markets' decline

MOSCOW, Mar 9 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Thursday in the wake of a decline on foreign stock markets, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell by 0.24% to 2,290.14, and the RTS index eased by 0.05% to 950.93.

"The Russian markets demonstrated a fall on Thursday following the global floors," managing company Pervaya analyst Ivan Kapustyansky said.

The external background was weakly negative, he said. Oil prices corrected upwards after a three day fall, while the foreign stock markets decreased after a speech by the U.S. Federal Reserve System chairman and on expectations of a more active toughening of monetary policies.

According to Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova, in Russia, the electric power, transport and consumer sectors edged up and were the market leaders. The telecommunications sector was the daily outsider, Kapustyansky said.

According to Kozhukhova, Sberbank corrected downwards from February's peaks after reporting a net profit decrease in 2022 by 78%, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Sovcomflot hit a peak since April 2022 on dividend decision expectations.

Beluga continued sharp growth ahead of a dividend decision, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.32	173.46	12.822
Gazprom	-0.5	161.75	1.972
Lukoil	-0.07	4122	1.324
Beluga	+7.78	3465	1.299
Sovcomflot	+7.16	57.9	1.241

(75.4577 rubles – U.S. $1)

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