Russian stocks flat on active oil price rise, European pessimism

MOSCOW, Nov 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market eased on Thursday as a significant oil and non-ferrous metals price growth offset the negative market trend in Europe, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.39% to 2,922.45, and the RTS index decreased 0.06% to 1,436.98.

“The external background was moderately positive in the middle of the day. The growth of oil prices accelerated and they added a bit more than 1% after a report of the American Petroleum Institute (API) about last week’s decline of oil reserves by 1.5 million barrels,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Chairman of OPEC Mohammad Barkindo said on Wednesday that a steep decline of shale oil production in the U.S. was expected in 2020, which, according to Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov, also supported oil prices.

Kochetkov said that the Russian market eased in the first half of the day but prices of non-ferrous metals including nickel, grew, helping the Russian market to stop the trend in the evening.

Kochetkov said that the European markets were volatile as investors still doubted the outcome of the U.S.–China trade negotiations because the U.S. took a firmer stance on China’s technological espionage, while China expected a gradual cancellation of import duties.

According to Kochetkov, the nickel price rise boosted the shares of Norilsk Nickel.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.37	248.34	31.764
Sberbank	+0.12	237.5	8.161
Lukoil	+0.57	6084.5	6.315
Norilsk Nickel	+0.02	17426	4.127
Surgutneftegas	-1.03	47.3	2.787

(64.2009 rubles – U.S. $1)

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