Russian stocks mixed as ruble growth outweighs external impact

MOSCOW, Jun 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks closed mixed on Monday as a higher ruble balanced a negative impact from investor wariness and contraction of oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.05% to 2,762 and the RTS increased 0.88% to 1,387.06.

“Uncertainty at the external markets led to a reduction of activity of national investors. After surging growth at the end of last week, the oil price also took a pause, exerting slight pressure on the oil sector. Strengthening of the ruble supported the shares of banks,” Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Broker, said that the background for the Russian market was mixed during the day. The European shares fell, but the market still hopes for progress in trade negotiations between China and the U.S. Futures for the S&P500 index rose prior to the start of trade in the country after China confirmed interest in a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump during a G20 summit, she said.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, said that contraction of oil prices could have triggered sales at the Russian market, but the strengthening ruble supported the local market.

“We should not that the ruble had only a kneejerk reaction to Friday’s sanction news, and ignored correction on Monday’s energy market. It is possible that an upcoming peak of tax payments supported the ruble today,” Zvarich said.

Kochetkov also said that the shares of Center and Volga Interregional Distribution Grid Company (Center and Volga IDGC) were one of the weakest papers due to a dividend cut-off. The company lost 11.80% to 0.2683 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.45	239.09	6.643
Gazprom	+1.44	232.38	5.120
Lukoil	-1.27	5270.00	3.018
VTB	+1.31	0.040725	1.620
Inter RAO	+2.57	5.0515	1.256

(63.1295 rubles – U.S. $1)

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