Russian stocks fall on oil price decline, weakening ruble

MOSCOW, Dec 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Wednesday over decline in oil prices and a weakening ruble, as well as profit taking before long holidays, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.52% to 2,139.77 and the RTS decreased 2.78% to 933.76.

“The broad market corrected against the background of the absence of significant negativity. Most likely, investors are taking profit before the long New Year holidays. Additional pressure on Russian assets was put by falling oil and the ruble,” Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov said.

The Brent oil price dropped 1.5% to U.S. $83.61 per barrel, apparently in anticipation of U.S. commercial oil inventories, Chernov added.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the Russian stock market was in the red by the end of the main session, not finding enough positive internal and external factors.

The largest growth was demonstrated by the shares of Unipro, Gazprom Neft and InterRAO.

The growth of electric power companies may be connected with expectations of higher demand for their production, and in case of Inter RAO including from China, Kozhukhova said.

Cian, VTB Bank and Qiwi shares showed the biggest falls.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.25	139.55	3.5
Gazprom	-1.03	162.38	1.909
VTB	-2.94	0.0165	1.519
EL5-Energo	+14.38	0.6062	1.301
Lukoil	0	4028.5	1.292

(69.9346 rubles – U.S. $1)

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