Russian stocks fall on sanction news, unfavorable background

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (PRIME) -- The stocks contracted on Monday as the investor mood was again worsened by the news about possible new anti-Russian sanctions, while an unfavorable background prompted sales on the national market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.28% to 2,359.13 and the RTS decreased 0.27% to 1,113.44.

“The Russian stock market continued its negative dynamics on Monday. Sales in our shares dominated the market on the background of contraction of external markets. The major European indices have fallen within 1.7% by the evening, while the Dow Jones and the S&P500 shrank by 1.1% in the first 30 minutes of trade,” Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, said.

He also said that bears prevailed on the market in the evening as new reports about possible new sanctions appeared and the oil price fell below U.S. $60 per barrel.

“In the second half of the day, the Russian market slipped into the red zone, and the topic of sanctions was the reason for that,” Veles Capital said in a research note.

U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker said that Washington may introduce new sanctions against Russia due to a recent arrest of Ukrainian ships and sailors in the Kerch Strait.

“According to Volker, the U.S. is in talks on the issue with Germany, France, and other states. More than that, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has received results of an investigation of possible Russian interference with the U.S. 2016 Presidential elections. This may strengthen the sanction pressure on Russia in 2019,” Veles Capital said.

Andrei Kochetkov, Otkritie Broker’s analyst, said that shares of power producer Unipro and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) were among the top losers due to a dividend cutoff, with Unipro losing 5.54% and MMK falling 4.64%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.42	182.30	11.052
Lukoil	0.00	5100.00	3.217
Gazprom	-1.20	153.53	2.840
Norilsk Nickel	+1.44	13349.00	1.928
Rosneft	-0.48	416.00	1.047

(66.4337 rubles – U.S. $1)

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