Russian stocks fall with other risky assets on unexpected Brexit

MOSCOW, Jun 24 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Friday with other risky assets because the U.K. has unexpectedly voted to leave the E.U., analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.82% to 1,884.41 and the RTS decreased 3.04% to 912.49.

“There is a good reason to fall – Britons voted to leave the E.U., although investors hoped for a peaceful outcome of the referendum. What is more, trading in some shares in Europe has been halted,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said, adding that all risky assets fell.

Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said, “Nonetheless the fall slowed down by the end of the day and the ruble quite rebounded after weakening in the morning.”

“It is obvious that this decrease is the initial reaction of markets, and we will see a rebound next week already. The referendum is just the first stage which will be followed by a long period of choosing terms to be met by the U.K. to leave the Eurozone, which can take several months.”

Andrei Dirgin, head of the research department at Alfa-Forex, said, “It is unknown yet, how much time will be needed to adjust all procedures needed to fulfil requirements to leave the E.U. In such conditions, interest in risky assets will be minimal, and ‘safe assets’, such as gold, the Swiss franc and the Japanese yen will be in strong demand. The U.S. dollar will also strengthen.”

Oil and gas producer Surgutneftegas, which has significant reserves in foreign currency, rose 1.19% to 38.97 rubles per preferred share.

The telecommunication sector fell after the State Duma, the parliament’s lower chamber, approved a law obliging connection operators to keep a record of talks and messengers for sixth months increasing companies’ costs and putting under pressure their cash flow, Kirsanova said.

Mobile operator MegaFon fell 5.88% to 672 rubles and another operator MTS went down 3.16% to 242 rubles.

Russia’s Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP), which decided to pay 1 billion rubles in dividends for January–March, rose 0.24% to 4.11 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.84	132.70	12.788
Gazprom	-2.84	140.11	5.537
Lukoil	-1.58	2687.00	3.136
Rosneft	-3.71	335.10	2.186
Norilsk Nickel	-0.68	8350.00	1.878

(64.3212 rubles – U.S. $1)

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