Russian stocks mixed on continuing US diplomatic woes, rising ruble

MOSCOW, Sep 1 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday as the MICEX sunk on the back of continuing Russia– U.S. diplomatic troubles and the RTS grew on strengthening of the ruble, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.56% to 2,010.98 and the RTS grew 0.43% to 1,100.58.

“A wave of profit taking came to the market after a quite successful week. This circumstance was caused by yet more events in the Russia–U.S. diplomatic discord,” Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

The U.S. sent a note to Moscow late Thursday, ordering a shutdown of the Russian consulate in San Francisco and of several organizations of Russia’s U.S. mission in Washington and New York. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov promised retaliation.

InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said that a decrease of the manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) in Russia in August to 51.6 from 52.7 added to investors’ pessimism.

Oil prices fell to U.S. $52.20 and met a supporting zone there to return to the level seen during the start of the day. Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analysis department, said that the prices were supported by a statement by the International Energy Agency (IEA) that there is no need to use global reserves to cover shortfalls due to U.S. refineries’ halt on the Harvey cyclone approach. The Iraqi oil minister’s assurance that the country fulfills the OPEC deal terms also boosted oil prices.

Kovalyov said that the RTS was supported by a strengthening ruble.

ALROSA slid on a statement by the CEO that the company’s diamond production can decrease due to an accident at the Mir mine, Kovalyov said.

Finam analyst Vasily Oleinik said that investors in metals producers were taking profit after an impressive rise of the sector in August.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.08	183.66	6.321
Norilsk Nickel	+0.13	9803	2.509
Gazprom	-0.48	117.4	2.666
VTB	-1.72	0.06345	2.019
ALROSA	-2.77	78.95	1.464

(58.5454 rubles – U.S. $1)

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