Russian stocks flat on plans to reduce oil output, price rise

MOSCOW, Dec 23 (PRIME) -- The stock market closed with marginal changes on Friday dragged down by the oil and gas companies after Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said that Russia was ready to cut oil output by 5–7% in January in retaliation against the West’s price ceiling, while the rising oil prices supported the market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.05% to 2,124.02, and the RTS index decreased 0.64% to 963.51.

“Unlike the foreign markets, the Russian trading floors were depressed by the persistently tense geopolitical environment, confirmation of the sanctions risks as oil production is to fall in the future,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

She also said that that most securities corrected after growth in the previous sessions.

"The trade dynamics strictly followed the trend formed over last several months on the penultimate week of 2022: the participants preferred to close some of their positions before holidays," Finam analyst Alexander Kovalyov said.

At the same time, the external background was positive, Kozhukhova said. In Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index added 0.2%, the U.S. S&P 500 rose 0.3% in the middle of the Russian session. The nearest Brent and WTI futures grew by 1.5–2.0% to above U.S. $83 and $77.50 per barrel respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+2.56	162	3.204
Sberbank	+0.15	137.89	2.832
Lukoil	-0.51	4007	1.497
Polyus	+0.64	7810	0.933
Magnit	-0.68	4317.5	0.825

(72.1306 rubles – U.S. $1)

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