Russian stocks mixed on ruble weakening, dividend stories

MOSCOW, May 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with a mixed dynamics on Tuesday, as the MOEX Russia Index grew and the RTS index decreased on the back of a weakening of the ruble, while dividend expectations prevented a more pronounced negative trend, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.87% to 2,633.71, and the RTS index decreased 0.62% to 1,030.68.

"The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index were affected by the currency exchange rate dynamics again, while the ruble indicator almost reached its annual peak of 2,657 during the day. The Russian market continues to live by dividend expectations in spite of a soon adoption of another Western sanctions package," Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Surgutneftegas corrected downwards 1.03% on Tuesday after surging on Monday, as investors were waiting for a 2022 dividend decision by the board of directors to be made on Thursday, the analyst said.

According to Finam analyst Kseniya Lapshina, the preferred shares of Rosseti Lenenergo increased 4.33%, while the common ones fell 1.11% on Tuesday, after the company announced a dividend recommendation of 0.0588 rubles per share on Monday in the evening.

O'Key eased 1.14% after reporting a 3% annual retail revenue rise in January–March, Lapshina said.

SPB Exchange added 0.26% after reporting a tenfold net profit rise in 2022 to 1.9 billion rubles, she said.

Bank Saint Petersburg reported that it had cancelled 13.67 million common shares, which caused a 4.45% growth of the common shares, Kozhukhova said.

According to Kozhukhova, the European markets were neutral with the Euro Stoxx 50 index adding 0.1% as of the middle of the Russian session, and the macroeconomic data released during the session was mixed. The U.S. S&P 500 futures lost about 0.1% on expectations of the state debt threshold talks.

The Brent and WTI nearest futures fluctuated by up to 0.5% near U.S. $75.50 and $71.50 respectively after the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasted that the global oil demand can exceed the supply by almost 2 million barrels per day in July–December.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-1.13	177.02	8.514
Sberbank	-0.53	230.48	7.332
Lukoil	+0.58	5075	7.149
VTB	-1.33	0.02218	2.718
Mosenergo	+10.59	2.9495	2.297

(79.1004 rubles – U.S. $1)

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