Russian stocks fall on oil price contraction, geopolitical woes

MOSCOW, Nov 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Tuesday as the shares of national companies experienced a negative impact from the contraction of oil prices and from the unfavorable flow of geopolitical news, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.37% to 4,120.02 and the RTS decreased 1.33% to 1,767.58.

“At the beginning of the day, stock indicators were rising, and oil prices also maintained the momentum of the previous trade session, … but after the start of trade in Russia, the international indices lost the ground they gained, and the oil price contracted. The worsening of the background created downward momentum on our bourse,” Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investment, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Research, said that geopolitical stories remained one of the negative drivers for the Russian market.

“Russia has tested an anti-satellite weapon, causing dissatisfaction of the U.S., while migrants made a direct contact with the Polish border patrol at the Belarussian–Polish border. The severity of these events is not critical, but it causes uncertainty among local investors,” Kochetkov said.

He also said that shares of gold producers saved the Russian market from a deeper fall. Polyus gained 1.09% to 15,922 and Polymetal International increased by 1.72% to 1,479 rubles as the gold price rose to U.S. $1,875 per ounce.

Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that shares of fertilizer producer Acron jumped 14.12% to 12,608 rubles as investors were still pricing in the November 11 announcement of record dividends of 720 rubles per share for January–September.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Tuesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.26	336.00	20.687
Sberbank	-1.79	338.23	19.332
Surgutneftegas	+3.33	45.00	14.581
Norilsk Nickel	+1.23	22632.00	10.815
Lukoil	+0.82	6975.00	5.377

(72.2724 rubles – U.S. $1)

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