Russian stocks fall on omicron spread worries, profit taking

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Wednesday as the omicron variant spread fast and on profit taking by foreign investors ahead of the long New Year holidays, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.97% to 3,741.07 and the RTS decreased 1.37% to 1,589.74.

“The international stock floors predominantly fell today due to an increase in the new cases of the omicron variant in some regions, including the leading economies,” Alexandra Ovchinnikova, analyst at Sber Asset Management, said.

“The omicron variant is spreading 70 times faster than the previous variants, and the daily number of new COVID-19 cases hit records. Asia closed lower, the European bourses are finishing trading almost flat but still in the red zone. The U.S. indices were close to zero at opening today.”

Vladimir Silayev, senior trader at managing company Alfa-Capital, said that the majority of foreigners, including traders from London, returned to the Russian market on Wednesday bringing back usual liquidity. On the other hand, the national bourse experienced a serious rally in the previous two days, and it is only logical to adjust positions during the second to last trading session of the year, Silayev said.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index contracted as large players took their profits prior to the New Year holidays,” investment company Freedom Finance said in a research note.

Shares of real estate developer LSR Group have been rising for three days straight and added 1.65% to 603.40 rubles on Wednesday due to growing demand for apartments at the apartment complex Wave. The company plans to sell all apartments of the first stage before mid-2022 in spite of the rising cost of mortgage, Freedom Finance said in the research note.

Grocery retailer Magnit lost 4.01% to 5,431 rubles on a dividend cut-off, according to the research note.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.18	339.19	13.133
Sberbank	-0.75	292.80	10.157
Lukoil	+0.15	6487.50	5.046
Yandex	-2.16	4385.20	3.466
Norilsk Nickel	-0.36	22560.00	3.433

(73.4959 rubles – U.S. $1)

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