Russian stocks mixed on oil price rise, Yandex nationalization remark

MOSCOW, Jun 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday after VTB CEO Andrei Kostin suggested nationalization of internet company Yandex, while the MOEX Russia Index erased the losses after the oil prices started growing, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 0.02% to 2,800.79, and the RTS index decreased by 0.65% to 1,047.47.

"The Russian market started the day quite positively but later sank to the red zone on statements from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum," Otkritie Broker leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

Yandex nosedived after Kostin said that the government should put Yandex into receivership rather than dividing the business into foreign and local on market conditions. "This is not, of course, a direct indication that it will happen this way, but such statements raise the risks of this event," the analyst said.

The entire IT sector declined on the statement, Kochetkov said.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the market also reacted to the executive’s comment that VTB would not participate in Yandex' business reorganization making the future of the deal more unclear.

Oversold Polyus and Polymetal started to rise from the local lows and gained 1.78% and 1.49% respectively, she said.

The foreign stock markets stabilized near local peaks on hopes for a better economic situation and a successful fight of the central banks with inflation. The nearest Brent and WTI futures fell by up to 0.5% after hesitating near the resistances of U.S. $75.5 and $71 respectively, in the middle of the Russian session but added up to 1% closer to the session end.

Natalya Milchakova, leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global, said that the oil sector shares were affected negatively by a statement by President Vladimir Putin that it was time to stop the overreliance on oil.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Yandex	-1.92	2550	5.487
Sberbank	-0.07	245	4.688
Gazprom	-0.8	170.48	3.598
Lukoil	-0.34	5284.5	2.522
Tatneft	-0.78	511	2.416

(83.9611 rubles – U.S. $1)

End