Russian stocks fall on low oil, weak ruble, geopolitical risks

MOSCOW, Aug 18 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Tuesday amid falling oil prices, weak ruble, and escalation of a conflict in southeastern Ukraine, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.98% to 1,691.24 and the RTS decreased 1.88% to 809.64.

The stock market was put under pressure not only by a weak oil market, Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said. “A real threat of escalation of a military conflict on the territory of the Donetsk and Lugansk self-proclaimed republics is cooling interest in Russian assets,” he said.

The ruble has weakened on low oil prices standing below U.S. $50 per barrel, negative foreign background, and geopolitical risks that have sharply increased recently, Finam analyst Timur Nigmatullin said.

Shares of VTB Bank, the country’s second biggest lender, fell 0.98% after the bank posted a 17.1 billion ruble net loss in January–June against a 5 billion ruble net profit in the same period of 2014, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

National flag carrier Aeroflot closed 0.38% higher on reports that the group’s passenger traffic increased 13.3% on the year to 22.1 million people in January–July.

Mobile operator MTS’ common shares fell 0.35% after the company reported that its IFRS net decreased 21.7% on the year to 17.1 billion rubles in April–June.

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) decreased 0.37% despite reports that its cargo traffic rose by 2.1% on the year to 81.3 million tonnes in January–July.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.75	72.45	6.369
Gazprom	-1.11	142.65	2.932
Lukoil	-2.50	2491.00	2.273
Norilsk Nickel	-1.90	9810.00	2.078
Surgutneftegas pref	+0.14	39.305	1.458

(65.5034 rubles – U.S. $1)

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