Russian stocks fall on low volume as US drops bomb in Afghanistan

MOSCOW, Apr 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market slightly fell on Friday on low trading volumes as foreign markets were closed for Good Friday but geopolitical tensions escalated after the U.S. dropped a bomb on the infrastructure built by the terrorist group Islamic State in Afghanistan, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.46% to 1,916.29 and the RTS decreased 1.49% to 1,073.15.

“The trading sessions are not being held in Europe and North America, the situation has removed the external guidelines for Russian players. The market activity has fallen to a quarter of the usual volume. Abrupt changes are possible in some of the securities in these circumstances but the total market picture is almost unchanged,” Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said that sales predominated on the Russian market amid a growing geopolitical unease after a U.S. strike on terrorist groups in Afghanistan and on continuation of the U.S.–North Korea conflict.

The demand for protective assets is on the rise which minimizes the chances for Russian stocks to increase, Kovalyov said.

Alfa-Capital analyst Andrei Shenk said that the MICEX fell by 5% over the week. “However, this seems to be more like panic sales, which means that we will soon be able to see a rebound and must use this moment to purchase at more attractive prices.”

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) soared on the news that the government wants to privatize a 20% stake in the company for 30 billion rubles in 2017.

Polymetal increased on the news that the company is ready to pay the entire free cash flow in dividends for 2017, she said.

M. Video was rising after an official announcement of a buyout offer. The price is U.S. $7 per share with a rate of 56.9 rubles per U.S. dollar, which means that the buyout price is 398 rubles, 5% higher than the current price level, Kirsanova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.82	149.24	3.773
Gazprom	-1.36	122.85	1.818
M. Video	+1.8	379.5	0.815
FGC UES	+0.83	0.17635	0.514
Rosneft	-1.91	315.75	0.511

(56.6019 rubles – U.S. $1)

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