Russian stocks mixed as Rosneft drops, ruble strengthens

MOSCOW, Jan 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Thursday, as the MOEX Russia Index was dragged down by a decline of oil producer Rosneft on fears that the company can lose its investment in Venezuela amid turmoil, and the RTS Index grew on a strengthening ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.35% to 2,482.71, and the RTS Index grew 0.14% to 1,188.15.

“The Russian market traded in the positive zone during the first half of the day but could not remain there. Rosneft dealt a major blow to the indices, shedding more than 2.5% on the news from Venezuela,” Andrei Kochetkov from Otkritie Broker said.

Investment company Finam’s expert Vasily Oleinik said that Rosneft was the outsider, falling on the news about political upheaval in Venezuela, where the Russian company invested heavily. A possible coup d’etat can undermine its projects there because a pro-U.S. president would ruin all Russian investments and projects.

Kochetkov said that strengthening of the ruble put additional pressure on exporters. But Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that Sberbank and TCS grew on a stronger ruble.

Kirsanova said that the Venezuelan events did not stop an oil price fall. Brent lost 0.5% and approached U.S. $60 after the American Petroleum Institute (API) said that the U.S. reserves increased.

Kochetkov said that metals producers traded below the market on expectations of a slowdown of the global economy after investors saw statistics from Asia and preliminary business activity figures in the euro zone.

Kirsanova said that X5 Retail Group rose 1.27% on the London Stock Exchange as of 7:08 p.m., Moscow time, after a solid financial report for October–December.

Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) increased 1.56% after some analysts improved their outlook on the paper, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.86	212.2	16.606
Gazprom	+0.63	160.9	5.739
Rosneft	-2.71	408.5	4.318
Lukoil	-0.17	5196.5	3.317
Magnit	-1.02	4256	3.016

(66.3318 rubles – U.S. $1)

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