Russian stocks fell on prolongation of sanctions, lack of drivers

MOSCOW, Jun 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market exercised a negative rebound on Tuesday on the back of the recent prolongation of E.U. sanctions against the country until January 31, 2016, as well as on the ruble weakening against the U.S. dollar and amid a lack of growth drivers, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.87% to 1,657.23 and the RTS decreased 1.48% to 964.32.

“Stocks fell within a correction connected with the prolongation of sanctions and the absence of positive news,” Sergei Filchenkov, analyst at Metropol, said.

Russian stocks were also depressed by the ruble weakening against the U.S. dollar, Mikhail Krylov, director of the analytical department of Golden Hills-Kapital, said.

The national currency fell to above 54 against the dollar by the end of trading, technically putting the dollar-denominated RTS under additional pressure.

The domestic stock indices fell within so-called summer stagnation on trading floors, when volumes of trading are small and indices drift between support and resistance levels, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at bank Obrazovaniye, said.

The situation concerning the Greek debt, which seemed to be developing after the country announced some new debt settlement proposals, was unlikely to influence the stocks, according to Filchenkov.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.01	72.01	3.809
Gazprom	-1.52	146.25	3.769
VTB	-1.41	0.07839	3.148
Norilsk Nickel	-1.73	9503.00	1.892
Surgutneftegas pref	-1.64	42.00	1.418

(53.5569 rubles – U.S. $1)

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