Russian stocks fall on low oil, ruble decline, new sanctions fear

MOSCOW, Mar 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Monday as the Brent oil price decreased below U.S. $54.4 per barrel, the ruble weakened to above 62 against the dollar and on the back of an E.U. decision to maintain sanctions imposed after the accession of Crimea, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.11% to 1,609.85 and the RTS decreased 2.48% to 812.88.

The E.U. decided to maintain sanctions imposed on Russia after the accession of Crimea and urged U.N. countries to consider similar measures against Moscow because of its actions on the peninsula, according to a European Commission’s statement.

The trade participants also did not welcome a statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Western countries are ready to introduce new sanctions against Russia when strictly necessary.

At present, the Ukrainian conflict, which caused Western sanctions, still has a bad impact on the Russian stock market, Sergei Alin, an analyst at Nord-Capital, said.

“The ruble fell against the dollar (to above 62) and the euro (to over 66) majorly pressured by oil (price dynamics),” Ivan Kopeikin, an analyst at BKS Express, said, adding that the ruble drop was partially compensated by regular sales of foreign currency revenue by Russian exporters.

Global oil prices fell on the news that U.S. oil reserves have been increasing and in expectations of sanctions against Iran to be lifted that may add about 1 million barrels daily to the world’s oil supply, Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said.

WGC-2, which swung to 1.4 billion rubles IFRS net loss in 2014, fell 9.70%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.39	65.57	10.394
Gazprom	-1.45	139.75	5.178
Lukoil	+0.26	2666.00	4.256
Norilsk Nickel	-0.78	10289.00	1.796
VTB	-1.93	0.06210	1.512

(61.3167 rubles – U.S. $1)

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