Russian stocks mixed on strong ruble, ahead of key rate decision

MOSCOW, Jul 20 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market was trading and closed mixed on Thursday in light of further strengthening of the ruble and ahead of the upcoming key rate adjustment decision of the central bank’s board of directors, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.88% to 2,917.48 and the RTS increased 0.14% to 1,016.53.

“The Russian stock market bounced back from the day’s lowest at the end of the trading session and demonstrated no unified dynamics due to strengthening of the ruble,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The U.S., the E.U. and Canada extended their sanctions against Russian legal entities and individuals, but the market reacted calmly, she also said.

The ruble accelerated its upward correction by the end of the day adding around 0.5–1.8% against the U.S. dollar, the euro and the yuan to reach the levels of 90.30 rubles, 100.60 rubles, and 12.57 rubles, respectively, she added.

Kozhukhova attributed the correction to the coming Friday’s meeting of the central bank’s board of directors. She expects that the regulator can raise the key rate by 50 basis points to 8%.

Director of the stock market department at managing company Pervaya Anton Kravchenko said that the transportation and the consumer goods sectors outperformed the market, while the energy sector was among the main losers.  

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.47	244.7	6.342
Polymetal International	-5.27	571.5	4.823
Polyus	+1.46	11605	4.044
Norilsk Nickel	-2.12	16196	3.523
Raspadskaya	+5.74	328.05	3.518

 (91.2046 rubles – U.S. $1)

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