Russian stocks fall slightly on EU markets, oil price decrease

MOSCOW, Nov 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell slightly on Monday on the back of a dip on European stock exchanges and an oil price drop but the trading session was quite uneventful and the market pared losses in the evening as European markets restored, analysts said.

The MICEX decreased 0.07% to 2,130.39 and the RTS fell 0.33% to 1,128.72.

“Trading on the Russian stock exchange floors saw a consolidation trend at the start of the new week. Opposing factors were not allowing a clear trend for the indices to be defined. On the one hand, the growth was limited by a predominantly negative external background: the European benchmarks were under pressure from political risks in the region,” InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

“On the other hand, there was no clearly noticeable flight from risk and this was limiting the negative mood,” the analyst said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that European indices dipped on the back of a failure of Germany’s coalition talks in the morning but then erased losses on media reports that the Free Democratic Party of Germany would support a minority government. 

Oil prices slightly decreased as investors worried that the output reduction agreement between OPEC and non-OPEC producers will not be prolonged, he said.

The board of directors of Dixy offered to discuss delisting, which, according to Kochetkov, was the main event on the Russian market. The company is unlikely to offer generous buyout terms because it has already bought about 20% from the market, he said. Dixy decreased 7.52%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.47	224.6	4.231
Magnit	-1.69	6768	3.516
Norilsk Nickel	-2.49	10544	3.348
ALROSA	+1.21	75.4	2.581
Gazprom	+0.24	129.96	2.031

(59.6325 rubles – U.S. $1)

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