Russian stocks fall on unfavorable environment, lower oil prices

MOSCOW, Dec 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Monday as a contraction of oil prices and an unfavorable general background left the market with no upward drivers, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.70% to 2,215.69 and the RTS decreased 0.48% to 1,130.06.

“The Russian stock market fell moderately today. The oil segment is consolidating above a U.S. $55 per barrel mark after the Brent oil increased above the level last week. Europe’s mood also favors no purchases, as Germany’s DAX rose by a symbolical amount of 0.02%, while France’s CAC40 fell by 0.2%,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

The Brent oil price lost 0.327% to U.S. $55.03 per barrel as of 6.04 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The lack of any strong dynamics in the MICEX index may be explained by the lack of new drivers…as there are no drivers now. Oil remains in an old range, plus chances for correction are high as the end of the year approaches,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

The E.U. prolonged its anti-Russian sanctions until July 31, 2017 in a negative factor for the market, but it is unable to have a serious impact on Russian instruments now, Rogova said.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that the most noticeable movement on the local market was contraction of power utility Russian Grids.

The shares lost 9.27% to 1.17 rubles as the company’s board of directors approved purchases of additional share issues of several power generators. In addition to that, President Vladimir Putin signed a ruling to increase the capital of Russian Grids through an additional share offering, and as a result the government’s stake in Russian Grids should not fall below 87.91%, Manzhos said.

Shares of mobile operator MegaFon fell 4.14% to 590.50 rubles, as it was the first day of trade without dividends. The company’s owners approved payment of 24.19 rubles per share in dividends for January–September, which accounts for about 3.9% of the share’s price as of December 16, which correlates to the Monday fall, Manzhos said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.23	174.30	5.976
Gazprom	-1.02	154.60	2.744
Lukoil	-0.04	3350.50	1.491
Norilsk Nickel	-2.52	10260.00	1.400
Russian Grids	-9.27	1.17	1.382

(61.7515 rubles – U.S. $1)

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