Russian stocks mixed on investors’ wariness over global debt mkt

MOSCOW, Mar 5 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market traded and closed mixed on Friday on the back of global market uncertainty, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.49% to 3,414.13 and the RTS decreased 0.50% to 1,447.46.

“The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices remained within their short-term ranges of 3,350–3,450 and 1,420–1,480 on Friday without no certain dynamics. Medium-term buyers prevent the market from falling, but fundamental risks restrain its growth,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

U.S. stock exchanges again opened higher, and then bounced back from the highs, she added, attributing the dynamics to uncertainty on the U.S. debt market that may persist for days or even weeks.

Kozhukhova also said that the Moscow Exchanges oil and gas index demonstrated a significant advance of 3.37% thanks to positivity on the global energy market with the Brent and WTI oil futures adding around 3% on the back of OPEC+’s decision to retain production almost unchanged in April.

Independent gas producer Novatek and oil companies Lukoil and Tatneft were amount the top gainers jumping by 7.6%, 6.79% and 5.04%, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	+6.84	6.203	21.785
Sberbank	+0.21	275.33	21.486
Norilsk Nickel	-0.96	21960	15.786
Gazprom	+2.08	225.75	11.583
Rosneft	+3.14	557.05	6.955

(73.7864 rubles – U.S. $1)

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