Russian stocks fall on oil price, ruble fall, flight from risk

MOSCOW, Oct 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Monday because of a fall of the oil price and foreign investors’ flight from risk, with the ruble’s depreciation resulting in the MOEX Russia Index outperforming the RTS Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index eased by 0.03% to 3,132.33 and the RTS decreased by 1.53% to 992.18.

“The Russian markets finished the day in the red … The current contraction stayed within the framework of a local correction after four days of growth last week. Today’s contraction is connected to the negative dynamics of foreign markets because of investors’ flight from risk and because of a serious fall of the oil price,” Yakov Yakovlev, senior portfolio manager at managing company Pervaya, said.

The Brent oil price lost almost 1.5% and fell below U.S. $91 per barrel, contracting for a third trading session in a row as investors were pricing in their fears of further actions of the monetary regulators around the world, Yakovlev said.

At the same time, the ruble is going to stay weak and the budget stimuli will remain in the medium term, meaning the Russian market can still grow potentially, he said.

“The Russian stock market did not show unified dynamics as it received support in the ruble segment from the growth of some companies and the weaker ruble,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign market mood was low because an agreement to finance the U.S. government is unlikely to become a long-term positive factor as it expires in six weeks. At the same time, the ruble’s devaluation supported the ruble assets in general and the shares of oil and metals companies in particular, Kozhukhova said.

Power holding Inter RAO gained 3.19% to 4.4295 rubles because the company was negotiating an increase of the export prices for China after introduction of export duties, while Mongolia has already agreed for the price growth, she said.

The ordinary shares of oil company Surgutneftegas grew by 3.74% to 32.71 rubles as investors were still reacting to the company posting an 846.56 billion ruble net profit for January–June. The company’s preferred shares fell by 2.15% to 56.69 rubles in a correction after a September 29 growth, she added.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.04	258.00	7.757
Surgutneftegas prefs	-2.15	56.69	7.495
Lukoil	+0.56	6714.50	7.063
Surgutneftegas	+3.74	32.71	6.331
Gazprom	-0.77	165.80	3.739

(97.4147 rubles – U.S. $1)

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