Russian stocks hit record low since 2009 on sanctions fears

MOSCOW, Mar 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian RTS stock index hit 1,078.44, its record low since September 2009 and the MICEX index fell to 1,249.68, its lowest since May 2012 on Thursday due to pending trade and political sanctions from Europe and the U.S., analysts said.

The MICEX fell 1.93%, and the RTS went down 1.97%.

“I can only imagine what the U.S. might do to us, but what I and other investors fear most is restricting Russian companies’ and banks’ access to the U.S. debt market,” Dmitry Mikhailov, a portfolio manager at Alfa-Capital, said.

“The U.S. is likely to impose large penalties on banks once they appear on the blacklist of those linked to the Ukrainian events and because of this more and more organizations will reduce their positions on the Russian market to zero.”

The European Union agreed on a framework on Wednesday for its first sanctions on Russia since the Cold War, including slapping travel bans and asset freezes on an as-yet-undecided list of people and firms accused by Brussels of violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the measures would be imposed on Monday, a day after the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea holds a referendum on whether it wants to become part of Russia, unless diplomatic progress was made.

Mikhailov said that the U.S. might hit the Russian metals and mining sector hard, while any retaliatory penalties will not damage the U.S. respective industry much.

“Little has changed in general: investors are focused on geopolitics, and until this story pauses, not mentioning a full stop, the market will not change its cautious approach to investments,” Alexander Razuvayev, director of Alpari’s analytical department, said.

Aeroflot plummeted on the news that the Ukrainian events forced the company to adjust its routes so they do not cross Ukraine’s territory, analysts said. The stock slumped 9.82% to 52.80 rubles.

MTS, a telecoms company with a large business in Ukraine, fell 0.45% to 236.43 rubles.

“It is really hard to be sure of anything and to give long-term forecasts now because the situation may change any moment. In the long run, MTS has not hit its rock bottom,” he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.62	69.84	18.292
Gazprom	-0.30	118.70	11.104
Lukoil	-2.52	1842	4.118
Norilsk Nickel	-1.70	5810	3.863
VTB	+0.60	0.03190	3.443

(36.4865 rubles – U.S. $1)

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