Russian stocks fall on threat of global trade wars, local events

MOSCOW, Mar 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market declined on Thursday pressured by a real threat of trade wars between the world’s biggest economies and disappointing corporate events, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index dropped 1.02% to 2,285.76 and the RTS sagged 0.88% to 1,258.89.

“(The Russian stock market) traded exclusively in the negative zone amid a mixed external background. On the one hand, crude prices were high thanks to an unexpected fall in (the U.S.) oil stocks, on the other hand, main global floors slid,” B&N Bank analysts Ainur Duisembayeva said.

She added that a fall on the global market accelerated after the U.S. government said that President Donald Trump may announce new tariffs for steel and aluminum imports soon and China’s government responded that it may introduce countermeasures. A threat of trade war pressured all risky assets including Russian stocks.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the domestic market was also hurt by new anti-Russian statements of U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May who continues her attempts to persuade fellow E.U. leaders to support Britain’s position following an attack against former Russian spy Sergei Skripal.

Kochetkov said that the local benchmarks were additionally pressured by negative corporate events. Coal producer Raspadskaya plunged 10.52% to 103.65 rubles despite a sound financial report after its board of directors recommended paying no dividend for 2017.

Home appliances and electronic goods retailer M.Video outperformed the market. The stock edged up 3.23% to 419 rubles on the news it intends to buy retail chain Eldorado from their parent company Safmar for 45.5 billion rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank, common	-1.26%	265.5	14.868
Gazprom	-1.42%	139.5	2.907
Lukoil	-0.44%	3857	2.339
Sberbank, preferred	-1.14%	219.47	2.089
Magnit	-2.24%	4800	1.622

(57.4954 rubles – U.S. $1)

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