Russian stocks fall without oil support, on Fed expectations

MOSCOW, Dec 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged down on Wednesday due to global investors’ wariness ahead of central banks’ meetings, oil price correction and negative corporate events, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.33% to 2,131.94 and the RTS slid 0.73% to 1,141.5.

“The global stock indices majorly moved to the red territory in the second half of the day, which means that investors are taking profits ahead of risks linked with meetings of the world’s key central banks. A worsening external environment intensified sales on the Russian market,” Sergei Melnikov, chief analyst at Forex broker Global FX, said.

Melnikov added that the Brent oil price failed to consolidate above $64 and returned to its starting position waiting for a crude inventories report of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Multi-industry holding Sistema was among the biggest losers sliding 5.59% to 10.22 rubles on the news that the Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan ordered to arrest its assets worth 98.7 billion rubles under a lawsuit against oil major Rosneft and that Sistema cancelled a share offering of its subsidiary Detsky Mir on the back of the arrest.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that Sberbank lost 2.68% to 221.8 rubles after it was reported to approve an increase of dividends to 50% of net profit starting only from 2020.

Metals producers demonstrated negative dynamics due to a seasonal decline of China’s demand for steal. Norilsk Nickel dropped 2.55% to 10,512 rubles and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) fell 1.28% to 144.3 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank, common	-2.68%	221.8	13,761
Gazprom	+0.04%	135.56	3,159
Sberbank, preferred	-3.63%	188.84	1,860
Magnit	-2.42%	6400	1,783
Norilsk Nickel	-2.55%	10512	1,503

(58.8370 rubles – U.S. $1)

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