Russian stocks mixed on profit taking, ruble depreciation

MOSCOW, Jun 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday as the ongoing ruble’s depreciation undermined the market again while investors were taking their profits prior to the start of the summer holidays, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index edged up 0.03% to 2,797.37 and the RTS decreased 2.37% to 982.94.

“Investors are selling the shares because of the start of the summer holiday season and because of the expected decisions of the annual general meetings of shareholders. The fall of the market was cushioned by the news about approved dividends of large companies,” Natalya Milchakova from Freedom Finance Global said.

The RTS Index fell deeper because of the ruble’s devaluation, Milchakova said.

Anton Kravchenko, head of the managing company Pervaya’s stock department, also said that the ruble’s fall undermined the RTS Index, but he also added that the MOEX Russia Index stayed within the medium-term upward trend on Friday.

“There are no strong fundamental positive drivers for further growth, and the downward correction could deepen,” Kravchenko said.

He also said that the latest economic data and statistics of the labor market show that inflation may speed up, creating risks of the central bank raising its key rate at the next meeting.

Alfa-Capital senior trader Vladislav Silayev said that the internal news flow hurt the ruble. The central bank allowed the residents to sell foreign currency at rates not tied to the official ones, while President Vladimir Putin has ordered the authorities to work out ideas to control over the market given the current circumstances, Silayev said.

Milchakova also said that the shares of pulp and paper holding company Segezha Group grew by 3.71% to 5.905 rubles in reaction to the company’s plans to enter the markets of the African countries, while another Freedom Finance Global’s analyst Vladimir Chernov said that the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against the ruble raises the company’s export revenue.

The shares of mobile operator MTS fell by 1.81% to 298 rubles in continuous fall after a dividend cut-off, Chernov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.17	240.40	5.136
Transneft prefs	+1.68	142450.00	4.446
Surgutneftegas prefs	+0.93	41.85	3.751
Lukoil	-0.19	5114.50	3.129
MTS	-1.81	298.00	2.679

(87.0341 rubles – U.S. $1)

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