Russian stocks fall on uncertainty after US Fed chair comments

MOSCOW, Sep 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Thursday as comments by Chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) Jerome Powell made investors uncertain over the future monetary policies, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.85% to 2,794.77, and the RTS index decreased 0.30% to 1,378.06.

“The U.S. Fed did not disappoint by cutting the rate but an uncertainty over the future policies limits the appetite to risk,” Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said. “Besides, local stories occurred on the domestic market.”

According to Sofya Kirsanova, portfolio manager at investment company Raiffeisen Capital, key rate reduction by 25 basis points by the U.S. Fed was unsurprising for market participants, while an absence of unanimity in making of the decision and comments by the chairman on the U.S. economy and future monetary policies were frustrating for investors. Powell said that the future key rate decisions would depend on the statistics data, rather than concerns about deterioration on the back of trade wars.

Kochetkov said that RUSAL’s shares fell 2.44% after En+ officials could not comment on the possible dividends of RUSAL.

Severstal and NLMK slid 2.01% and 1.55% respectively on fears for reduction of exports, the analyst said.

The retail sector was under pressure after statistics that signaled slowdown of the sales rise to 0.8% in August, he said.

Sistema fell 3.18% after a recent soar on the back of announcement of a buyback program, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.14	234.98	9.249
Gazprom	-1.26	230.52	7.333
Lukoil	-1.39	5391	6.027
Surgutneftegas	+0.55	35.7	2.858
Norilsk Nickel	-0.91	15954	2.557

(64.4290 rubles – U.S. $1)

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