Russian stocks flat on sanctions, Putin–Trump meeting news

MOSCOW, Jun 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed almost unchanged on Friday as news about countersanctions was neutralized by information about preparations for a meeting between Russian and U.S. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.08% to 1,879.50 and the RTS grew 0.05% to 1,000.96.

“The Russian market is again in a sales mode – in spite of continuing oil recovery – after shy attempts to return to growth,” Sergei Melnikov, chief analyst at Forex broker Global FX, said.

“The issue of sanctions has come to the fore again. Yesterday, the American senators adjusted the technical errors in a draft law on sanctions against Russia and submitted the document to the lower chamber. Today, President Vladimir Putin has rolled over the retaliatory sanctions against the West for one more year, until December 31, 2018.”

Wednesday’s decision by the E.U. to prolong the Russian sanctions is still pressurizing the market as well, Melnikov said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that news about preparations for a meeting between the Russian and U.S. presidents supported prices.

Kochetkov said that Sberbank increased on reports that the government will insist on high dividends.

Rosneft was an outsider, falling 3% because of a dividend gap, he said.

Metals producers declined as investors took profits after an increase over a few previous days and as the ruble has become strong, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.24	145.59	9.783
Gazprom	-0.56	118.49	2.679
Lukoil	-0.02	2872.5	2.082
Norilsk Nickel	-1.37	8068	1.598
Sberbank pref	+4.6	120.29	1.582

(59.0855 rubles – U.S. $1)

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