Russian stocks fall on new EU sanctions, cooling US relations

MOSCOW, Aug 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Friday as the E.U. extended the sanctions due to a scandal with shipment of Siemens’s turbines to Crimea and because of investors’ concerns over deterioration of relations with the U.S., analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.60% to 1,953.49 and the RTS decreased 0.26% to 1,026.73.

“On Friday, August 4, the moods on the Russian stock market started to deteriorate… Brent oil returned to U.S. $52 per barrel, and a rally of stock markets in Europe continued. I mean, the general background was not negative, which signifies that the reasons for a decrease of interest in purchases of Russian shares were internal,” Anastasia Sosnova, senior analyst at Bank Rossiysky Capital, said.

Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at investment company Finam, said that although the E.U. sanctions were unlikely to cause a significant economic damage to Russia, market participants saw them as a negative factor for the Russian market.

InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said that investors are worried about fading hopes for improvement of Russia–U.S. relations and about an ongoing investigation of Russia’s alleged intervention in the U.S. presidential elections.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the trade volume was low as investors were expecting a release of U.S. statistics.

Oil quotations were decreasing during the day on accumulated evidence of growth of production and exports by OPEC states and on rising production by Russian oil companies, Kochetkov said. In the evening, the prices restarted growth.

Kovalyov said that the Russian oil and gas sector was under a small pressure but Rosneft continued growing after publishing solid financials.

ALROSA sunk after an accident at the Mir mine, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	169.73	-0.16	4.613
Europlan	773.5	-2.7	2.570
ALROSA	83.25	-0.9	2.207
Gazprom	119.45	-0.11	2.060
Rosneft	316	-0.32	1.709

(60.7503 rubles – U.S. $1)

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