Russian stocks fall on serious drop in oil prices, ruble depreciation

MOSCOW, Apr 2 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Wednesday after a significant fall in oil prices and fears that the ruble may continue to weaken against the U.S. dollar and the euro, analysts said.

The MICEX index decreased 0.19% to 1,373.16, and the RTS index decreased 1.10% to 1,222.11.

The Russian market corrected down after yesterday’s growth and new maximums reached by the U.S. market on the previous day, Veles Capital said in a note.

The domestic trading were also pushed down by a significant fall in oil prices as operations in Libyan ports might be resumed which will increase supply on the market, Veles Capital said.

Brent oil fell 1.15% to U.S. $104.41 per barrel.

Investors were also disappointed by weak statistics from China, and worried over a possible increase of the U.S.’ oil and oil product stocks.

The Finance Ministry’s decision to resume currency purchases for the Reserve Fund also exerted negative influence on the market, Ivan Fomenko, director of Absolut Bank’s trust management department, said.

The banking sector also fell on the possibility of further depreciation of the ruble, Fomenko said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.44	82.67	11.805
Gazprom	-0.73	134.90	8.351
VTB	-1.14	0.03895	4.215
Norilsk Nickel	+2.13	6090.00	2.228
Lukoil	-0.59	1954.00	1.932

(35.0240 rubles – U.S. $1)

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