Russian stocks fall on unfavorable environ, Trump catching COVID

MOSCOW, Oct 2 (PRIME) – The Russian stocks contracted on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife caught the coronavirus, making the political situation in the U.S. even more uncertain, while dividend cut-offs in two major Russian banks only added fuel to the fire, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.29% to 2,852.42 and the RTS decreased 2.25% to 1,148.07.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index stayed in the red zone at the end of the day due to an unfavorable external background and due to corporate factors. … The mood on the U.S. bourses was moderately negative … as the news about Trump getting sick with the coronavirus was a blow to the market as it raises the risks of political uncertainty one month before the presidential elections,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Andrei Kochetkov, lead analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said that Trump’s sickness was one of the three major negative factors that the local market had to price in.

“In addition to that, the shares of Sberbank and VTB Bank experienced dividend cut-offs,” Kochetkov said.

The ordinary shares of Sberbank plummeted by 8.39% to 208.16 rubles, and preferred ones dived by 8.54% to 201.24 rubles. VTB Bank decreased by 1.52% to 0.03373 rubles.

The third factor was contraction of oil prices. “A lack of progress on the next economic support package in the U.S. and a return of restriction measures in Madrid, Paris, and Moscow show us that demand for oil will again be under pressure,” Kochetkov said.

The Brent oil price fell by 3.03% to U.S. $39.69 per barrel as of 6.48 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Kochetkov also said that the transport index of the Russian bourse continued falling on the sales of national flagship carrier Aeroflot, which lost 3.60% to 68.60 rubles after the company started to issue shares on the open market.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank ords	-8.39	208.16	23.030
Gazprom	+0.71	169.60	6.519
Sberbank prefs	-8.54	201.24	5.268
Norilsk Nickel	+0.95	18904.00	5.192
Lukoil	-1.15	4358.00	5.052

(77.2774 rubles – U.S. $1)

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