Russian stocks mixed on falling foreign markets, rising ruble

MOSCOW, Oct 21 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Wednesday thanks to strengthening of the ruble and a discouraging external environment, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index dropped 0.6% to 2,786.23 and the RTS increased 0.24% to 1,143.42.

“The Russian stock market resumed its downward correction in light of a worsened external environment. The core pressure factor was the situation on the energy market with the Brent oil price losing over 2.5% to around U.S. $42 per barrel,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

Dynamics of Western floors were also negative with most European bourses losing around 2% by the evening and the U.S. Dow Jones and S&P500 benchmarks falling 0.1–0.2% in the first hours of trade, Zvarich added.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the domestic indices demonstrated no unified dynamics thanks to strengthening of the ruble.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the consumer sector slid most of all due to a 3% fall in retail sales seen in Russia in September, according to the Federal State Statistics Service.

Kozhukhova added that grocery retailer Lenta was among the biggest losers with its global depositary receipts (GDRs) decreasing 2.74% despite generally good operating results for July–September.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.25	210.07	16.807
Yandex	+1.31	4397	7.337
Gazprom	-1.54	163.96	5.795
Norilsk Nickel	-2.17	19754	5.499
Lukoil	-1.55	4204	3.495

(77.7780 rubles – U.S. $1)

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