Russian stocks mixed on oil prices fluctuations

MOSCOW, May 4 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Thursday with the MOEX Russia Index decreasing and the RTS index rising after a speech by the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) chairman triggered an upward oil price correction, but then the prices returned to a decrease, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index eased by 0.31% to 2,524.51, and the RTS index rose by 1.01% to 1,018.72.

"The external background was mixed on Thursday. The oil prices grew after a significant three-day decrease, while negative dynamics prevails on the global markets," Ivan Kapustyansky, analyst at managing company Pervaya, said.

The Fed raised the key rate by 0.25 percentage points and signaled a possible pause in further increases. The market reaction was mixed, but the prices for the Brent oil blend grew above U.S. $72 per barrel, the analyst said.

Dmitry Postolenko, head of managing company Pervaya’s department for fixed income securities management, said that the positive trend was short-lived sinking the MOEX Russia Index.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that corporate stories supported the Russian market.

Mechel returned to growth on media reports about a rise of Russian coking coal exports by 44% in January–March thanks to high demand in China and India.

According to Kapustyansky, the metals, oil chemistry and consumer sector were the market leaders.

Aeroflot fell 2.76% on reports about cutting the number of flights on the national routes as state subsidies were reduced.

Acron closed flat after publishing a 64.3% net profit dive in January–March, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.61	237.21	11.294
VTB	-0.86	0.020775	3.671
Gazprom	-0.19	172.55	3.207
Polyus	+1.8	10505	2.598
Mechel	+4.38	174.91	2.578

(79.3071 rubles – U.S. $1)

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