Russian stocks fall pressured by sales in consumer sector

MOSCOW, Oct 24 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks continued falling on Tuesday pressured by sales in the consumer sector amid a lack of major drivers on global floors and ignoring growing oil prices, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.10% to 2,061.79 and the RTS decreased 0.36% to 1,127.03.

“The technical image of the Russian ruble-denominated MICEX index continues to signal about a possibility of further reduction. The index manages to maintain the support level of 2,060 points for a second day in a row, but the market is definitely weak,” Finam expert Vasily Oleinik said.

Investment sentiments on global financial markets remained moderate and the news flow was poor, the analyst said.

Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofia Kirsanova that “the Russian market continued moving in a declining trend amid an absence of major drivers on global stock floors, under pressure of sales in the consumer sector and the electric power sector.”

Shares of retailer Magnit continued falling and lost 3.75% on Tuesday, as investors were strongly depreciated by the company’s weak results, Kirsanova said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that shares of retailer Dixy grew 0.92% on hopes for strong financial results to be released on Wednesday.

Shares of metals firms grew on decreased steel production in China amid the country’s plans to improve environment. Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) added 2.33%, Severstal grew 0.74%, and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) rose 0.91%, Kochetkov said.

Yandex jumped 5% on reports that its revenue increased 21% on the year to 23.4 billion rubles in July–September, as calculated under U.S. GAAP.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.08	192.50	5.417
Magnit	-3.75	7913.00	4.180
Gazprom	-0.62	126.02	2.581
Norilsk Nickel	-0.07	10666.00	1.428
Moscow Exchange	+0.63	120.03	1.317

(57.4706 rubles – U.S. $1)

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