Russian stocks fall on oil slide below $30, worsened econ outlook

MOSCOW, Jan 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks plunged on Friday as oil price fell below U.S. $30 per barrel pushing global stock markets down and investors were also disappointed by a worsened macroeconomic forecast for 2016 by the Economic Development Ministry, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 4.31% to 1,608.36 and the RTS decreased 5.77% to 652.98.

“Today the market was in panic,” Mikhail Abramov, an analyst at Veles Capital, said. “Oil price went down below a psychological threshold of U.S. $30 per barrel, and all global trading floors fell.”

Abramov also attributed the market tumble to investors’ expectation of a Friday report of the International Atomic Energy Agency. If the agency confirms that Iran has met all requirements, the E.U., which is likely to lift economic sanctions against the oil exporter soon, may take it into account.

Emerging markets’ stocks lost their attractiveness on the back of low oil prices, and investors avoided investing in them, opting for safe havens, such as U.S. Treasuries, Andrei Shenk, an analyst at Alfa-Capital, said.

A pessimistic macroeconomic forecast, published by the Economic Development Ministry, put Russian stocks under additional pressure, Abramov said. The ministry revised the gross domestic product (GDP) estimate for 2016 to a 0.8% contraction from a 0.7% growth.

The fall of the dollar-denominated RTS was technically sped up by the ruble depreciation to 77.77 against the dollar by the closing bell, while Brent crude oil price weakened to $29.64 per barrel.

Top Russian lender Sberbank fell 6.20% amid the ruble fall and after posting financial results under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) for 2015, Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said. The bank’s net profit decreased 24% on the year in 2015, and investors did not favor it although the bank had quite strong result amid crisis.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-6.20	87.27	11.970
Gazprom	-4.40	125.10	7.940
Lukoil	-4.15	2098.00	5.106
Norilsk Nickel	-4.89	8050.00	3.701
Magnit	-5.77	9640.00	2.788

(76.5230 rubles – U.S. $1)

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