Russian stocks mixed on ruble weakening, slow oil price falling

MOSCOW, Apr 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Wednesday with the RTS declining on a decrease in oil prices and expectations of tax initiative announcements by U.S. President Donald Trump but the MICEX grew as the ruble weakened, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 1.43% to 2,026.92 and the RTS decreased 0.16% to 1,119.11.

“After a vague start of the day, Russia’s key stock market indices were trading in a mode of an oppositely directed consolidation. Players were avoiding taking active trade decisions after four sessions of growth on the back of sluggish oil dynamics and in waiting for a tax plan by Trump,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex group of companies, said.

According to media reports, the Trump’s plan envisages a reduction of the corporate profit tax. Anastasia Sosnova, senior analyst at Bank Rossiysky Capital, said that the U.S. market reacted by opening with a positive gap.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the ruble weakening allowed the MICEX to stay afloat throughout the day.

President Vladimir Putin assured businessmen of the city of Yaroslavl on Tuesday that the government will prevent an excessive strengthening of the ruble with market measures. The ruble weakened after the statement, Kochetkov said.

The central bank might announce easing of its monetary policy at a meeting on Friday, Kochetkov said. This may support the ruble for a certain time but carry trade in the ruble will lose its attractiveness once the key rate of the central bank hits 8.0–8.5%, he said.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.54	165.05	8.069
Gazprom	+2.48	133.43	7.626
Magnit	-0.02	8823.00	1.698
Lukoil	+0.44	2970.00	1.553
Norilsk Nickel	+0.19	8890.00	1.517

(55.8453 rubles – U.S. $1)

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