Russian stocks flat as oil stops rising, US posts weak statistics

MOSCOW, Oct 7 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed near to the level of the opening on Friday because investors’ worries about a stop of oil price growth were balanced by a release of the U.S. labor market statistics which could be negative enough to make the authorities postpone an interest rate increase, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.19% to 1,980.02 and the RTS lost 0.22% to 1,002.07.

“Russian investors were hesitant to make active steps before the weekend. A partial profit taking on the black gold market hindered purchases on the domestic market, as well as concerns over a soon rate increase in the U.S. which are pressurizing risky assets in general,” InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said.

Brent kept flat at U.S. $52.51 per barrel at 4:19 p.m., Moscow time.

The dynamics of the key European stock markets – declining by more than 0.4% –made the Russian traders’ mood somewhat downbeat, Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

Russian stocks pared losses in the evening as a negative U.S. labor market statistics was perceived positively by market participants in the light of a possible U.S. interest rate rise postponement, Alfa-Capital analyst Andrei Shenk said.

Bashneft strongly underperformed the market as investors knew that the controlling stake in the company will be sold to oil major Rosneft without auction. The preferred shares fell 5.84% to 1,573 rubles following the information due to concerns that the acquisition of Bashneft will result in violations of minority shareholders’ rights, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Polymetal continued decreasing with the negative trend exacerbated by a statement by CEO Vitaly Nesis that the company can skip payment of special dividends for 2016, Manzhos said. The company went down 3.23% to 660 rubles.

ALROSA was growing on a statement about diamond sales increase in September, he said.

Metals and mining companies were falling because the strengthening national currency can negatively affect the exports of the Russian producers, Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Retailers corrected downwards from an increase a week earlier, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	–0.11%	148.74	7.375
Gazprom	+0.15%	136.1	2.785
ALROSA	+1.97%	94.3	1.767
InterRAO	+1.86%	3.36	1.561
Norilsk Nickel	–0.78%	9,401	1.400

(62.3900 rubles – U.S. $1)

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