Russian stocks fall on low oil prices, negative foreign background

MOSCOW, Sep 4 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Friday on the back of decreasing oil prices and overall negative foreign background, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.73% to 1,698.16 and the RTS decreased 1.44% to 793.65.

The current weakness of local indices is explained by the morning’s worsening of foreign background, Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said. “A significant decrease in oil futures has become a stimulus for the ruble’s depreciation against the U.S. dollar. This in its turn has a depressing impact on the RTS index, which significantly outstripped the MICEX index in its reduction,” the analyst said.

“Oil prices are facing difficulties while trying to strengthen above U.S. $50 per barrel, which causes instability of moods on the stock market,” InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Debt-ridden metals and mining group Mechel was among leaders having grown by 3.29% on reports that the company plans to sign a debt restructuring agreement with VTB Bank on Friday, Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

Russian coking coal producer Raspadskaya closed 3.42% lower after reporting that its net loss narrowed 87.5% on the year to $8.380 million in January–June, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.26	73.96	5.960
Gazprom	-1.72	142.80	3.730
Lukoil	-1.80	2458.00	2.079
Norilsk Nickel	-0.28	10570.00	1.678
Magnit	+0.44	11988.00	0.909

(67.0102 rubles – U.S. $1)

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