Russian stocks mixed as hope to escape sanctions meet falling ruble

MOSCOW, Sep 10 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Wednesday because the hopes that the E.U. will not proceed with further sanctions against Moscow were outweighed by concerns over the weakening ruble, and due to a lack of support by E.U. floors which were not rising, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.03% to 1,468.55, and the RTS went down 0.61% to 1,239.09.

“No concrete details about sanctions have been revealed today, and the Russian market has been brought to a stand as traders waited for news,” Dmitry Mikhailov, a portfolio manager at Alfa-Capital, said. “There has been a downward trend at the European floors, and the ruble weakened by 0.8%, quite substantially, that is why the Russian market did not grow,” Mikhailov said.

The FTSE 100 and the CAC 40 kept virtually flat at 5.50 p.m. Moscow time, and the DAX was falling 0.25% to 9,687.18, as investors were concerned by Scotland’s referendum to be held on September 18, when people may decide to secede from the U.K.

The average weighted exchange rate of the ruble against the U.S. dollar, used by the central bank to set the exchange rate for tomorrow decreased by 14.32 kopecks to 37.17.

“The trading volume was low. I shall emphasize that the majority of securities neither increased nor fell, investors were neither interested in buying, nor in selling shares,” Ivan Fomenko, head of Absolut Bank’s trust management department, said.

The factor of sanctions, which the E.U. may impose against Russia anytime if the geopolitical crisis in Ukraine escalates, is already included in the prices of Russian securities, Fomenko said.

RUSAL grew confidently by 4.12% after last week’s successful negotiations with creditors, Nord-Capital senior analyst Roman Tkachuk said.

Cherkizovo outperformed the market, rising 1.51%, on the news that the company will extend its poultry and pork production, Tkachuk said.

Polymetal increased 2.23% as the largest shareholder Alexander Nesis bought a 2.75% stake from the market, Sofiya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.93	78.67	6.807
Gazprom	+0.13	139.20	2.836
Lukoil	-0.03	2163.00	1.301
Norilsk Nickel	-0.18	7380.00	1.295
Magnit	+0.51	9810.00	0.729

(37.0261 rubles – U.S. $1)

End