Russian stocks mixed on lower ruble, oil, positive corporate data

MOSCOW, Jul 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Monday as the dollar-denominated RTS was depressed by a further weakening of the ruble, while the ruble-denominated MICEX was supported by corporate data, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.25% to 1,931.78 and the RTS decreased 0.56% to 930.71.

“Main indices of the Russian stock market decreased moderately on Monday because sentiment on global stock markets deteriorated and oil prices fell,” Promsvyazbank senior analyst Ilya Frolov said.

“A further weakening of the ruble put the RTS under significant pressure, but a rise in shares of Magnit after it published financial results for the first half of the year, and a continuing rally in shares of electric power companies caused flat dynamics of the MICEX,” he said.

Vasily Tanurkov, deputy director for stock market management at Veles Capital, attributed a drop in oil prices to an excessive rise in oil product reserves on the back of overproduction in the U.S. and China.

Investors were also depressed by falling European stocks, the analyst said.

Russian Grids jumped 13.79% to 0.845 rubles after the company published strong financial results under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS). The company’s net profit soared to 140.1 billion rubles in January–June from over 3 billion rubles in the same period of 2015.

Retailer Magnit, whose net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 13.14% to 17.9 billion rubles in April–June, increased 7.85% to 10,100 rubles.

Top Russian lender Sberbank fell 1.31% to 136 per common share and decreased 1.24% to 95.2 per preferred share due to a weaker ruble. The national currency depreciated to about 65.4 rubles against the U.S. dollar by the closing bell.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.31	136.00	6.429
Magnit	+7.85	10100.00	5.919
Gazprom	+0.07	140.70	2.507
Lukoil	-0.91	2829.00	1.726
Norilsk Nickel	-0.75	9306.00	1.104

(64.6270 rubles – U.S. $1)

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