Russian stocks fall on ruble depreciation, low oil price

MOSCOW, May 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased Thursday, as the ruble continued weakening and oil prices remained low, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.20% to 1,657.62 and the RTS decreased 2.11% to 990.87.

“The dollar-denominated RTS fell on the back of the ruble’s significant weakening,” Finam analyst Timur Nigmatullin said.

Before closing 0.20% lower, the MICEX index was demonstrating a moderate growth during the day, with shares of mineral extraction companies amid currency revaluation due to the ruble depreciation acting as the main drivers, the analyst said. The growth was also supported by a positive news flow, as Moody’s unexpectedly improved its forecast for Russia’s economy contraction in 2015 to 3% from 5.5%.

July futures for Brent oil demonstrated neutral dynamics having frozen at the level of around U.S. $62 per barrel. The oil price will most likely continue falling till OPEC’s meeting scheduled for June 5, Vasily Tanurkov, Veles Capital’s deputy CEO for stock market analysis, said.

The country’s biggest lender Sberbank fell 0.85% after the bank said its net profit decreased 57% on the year to 30.6 billion rubles in January–March as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Power holding Inter RAO IFRS closed 1.27% higher as the company’s net profit soared to 16 billion rubles in January–March from 3.8 billion rubles in the same period a year ago.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
VTB	-2.54	0.08050	7.494
Sberbank	-0.85	73.60	6.186
Gazprom	-1.05	146.11	4.016
Lukoil	+0.87	2563.80	2.579
Norilsk Nickel	+0.18	9397.00	1.318

(51.0178 rubles – U.S. $1)

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