Russian stocks mixed on oil price fall, closure of positions

MOSCOW, Oct 14 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday as the mood was undermined by a fall of the oil prices and closure of positions before the weekend, while the ruble’s growth supported the RTS index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.22% to 1,950.98 and the RTS increased 2.30% to 990.66.

“The Russian stock market slid prior to the weekend, and the MOEX Russia Index was in the red zone as the Brent oil price fell. The oil and gas sector made a key contribution to the fall,” Promsvyazbank senior analyst Vladimir Lyashchuk said.

Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov said that the Russian market fell in the first half of the day, but in the evening, the indices switched to mixed dynamics, and the RTS Index grew supported by the ruble growth.

“Given an almost complete lack of significant corporate and macroeconomic drivers, some investors decided to close long positions before the weekend,” Finam’s analyst Alexander Kovalyov said.

The shares of gold producer Lenzoloto shrank by 9.79% to 10,600 rubles in a correction after Thursday’s growth that by the announcement of dividends, Kovalyov said.

Chernov also said that the shares of power holding Inter RAO grew by 0.79% to 2.812 rubles in reaction to the company’s purchase of the stake of Siemens in its joint venture with Power Machines and the German company’s transformer plant in Voronezh.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.11	107.68	5.140
Gazprom	-0.91	159.38	2.256
Lukoil	-1.09	4140.00	1.818
Yandex	-1.70	1997.40	1.628
Rosneft	-1.10	295.50	1.557

(63.4917 rubles – U.S. $1)

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