Russian stocks fall on geopolitical tensions, foreign floors’ fall

MOSCOW, Jan 27 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks contracted on Wednesday as the geopolitical situation is still tense and the major foreign bourses fell, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.39% to 3,343.62 and the RTS decreased 2.10% to 1,393.02.

“The national market started the day with weak attempts to climb above 3,400 of the MOEX Russia Index, but switched into the red zone in the middle of the day. The pessimistic mood of local investors was formed by a negative start of trade on the European bourses and by firming  of the U.S. dollar prior to announcement of results of the Federal Reserve System’s meeting,” Andrei Kochetkov, lead analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said.

Freedom Finance analyst Valery Yemelyanov said that expectations of a Federal Reserve System decision triggered contraction of all stock markets around the world although the market expects no surprises. The market is clearly disappointed with the fact that the White House and the U.S. Congress are yet to decide on new economic stimuli.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that the Russian stock indices switched into a downward correction following the Western bourses.

“Investors decided to take profit after growth of the first few days of the year, but this trend may continue because it is difficult for them to find new short-term drivers. Nevertheless, the Russian stock bourses may soon face not only a downward correction, but a switch of a mid-term trend as the geopolitical situations remains tense,” Kozhukhova said.

Kochetkov also said that shares of titanium giant VSMPO-Avisma continued growing and gained 0.55% to 22,100 rubles on a recent signing of a long-term contract with Boeing.

Kochetkov also said that the metals and mining index was the weakest on the Moscow Exchange with the gold companies contributing most. Petropavlovsk Plc and Polymetal International lost 1.79% to 31.07 rubles and 3.28% to 1,652.40 rubles, respectively, while metals giant Norilsk Nickel fell by 2.55% to 25,110 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.93	266.84	25.389
Gazprom	-0.69	217.29	12.071
Norilsk Nickel	-2.55	25110.00	9.927
Lukoil	-1.70	5500.50	9.057
Rosneft	-2.38	482.20	4.443

(75.6354 rubles – U.S. $1)

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