Russian stocks flat on oil price, ruble fall

MOSCOW, Oct 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed little changed on Thursday on the back of a fall of oil prices that pressed down the energy stocks and increasing volatility of the ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 0.18% to 3,255.16, and the RTS index added 0.51% to 1,056.54.

"The MOEX Russia Index has remained near the annual maximum of 3,287.34. The medium-term upward trend stays in place so far. The weak dynamics is explained by a decline of oil quotations and predominately negative dynamics on the global markets," Yakov Yakovlev, senior portfolio manager at managing company Pervaya, said.

The Brent oil price fell by 1.3% to about U.S. $89 per barrel. The prices remain strongly volatile because of a military conflict in the Middle East and the absence of signs of an upcoming de-escalation, the analyst said.

The ruble traded on a narrow range of 96–98 against the U.S. dollar after a presidential decree on obligatory foreign currency revenue sales by some exporters, he said. According to Senior Trader at managing company Alfa-Capital Vladislav Silayev, the intraday volatility of the ruble increased in the evening, as the external background was mixed, some sellers were active, and the active stage of a tax period approached.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that investors took profit in many shares after their increase over a few previous sessions. However, the losses were erased in the evening.

According to Yakovlev, the oil and gas sector underperformed, while the electric power stocks traded above the market.

Coal companies grew on expectations of a persistently high demand. For instance, the common shares of Mechel reset the maximums since 2012. Hopes for an improvement of the situation with debt of the company also affected the quotations, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Mechel	+5.78	259.25	8.284
Yandex	+4.66	2645	7.915
Sberbank	+0.29	268.67	7.782
Lukoil	-0.31	7464.5	6.145
Gazprom	+0.36	170.79	4.817

(97.3724 rubles – U.S. $1)

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