Russian stocks plunge on fears of new COVID strain

MOSCOW, Nov 26 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market plunged on Friday, suppressed heavily by worldwide concern of a possible surge of COVID-19 amid new virus strain discovery, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 3.47% to 3,810.98 and the RTS decreased 4.58% to 1,589.38.

“The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) and RTS indices remained in deep decline by the end of trading, following the sales on the international platforms, caused by news about a new strain of coronavirus,” Yelena Kozhukhova of Veles Capital said.

“In particular, investors are afraid of the strengthening of anti-vaccine restrictions and their negative impact on the global economy. As a result, almost all key assets …, including oil, were being sold off on world platforms. By the end of the working day Brent crude oil quotations were losing almost 7%,” Yury Kravchenko of Veles Capital said.

“The Russian stock market found itself under the strongest pressure of sellers. Due to flight from risks the whole range of blue chips turned out to be in the red. The sell-off was provoked by the deterioration of the external background after the discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in South Africa,” Vladislav Silayev of Alfa Capital said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	-3.04	327.3	30.327
Sberbank	-4.1	304.28	25.909
Lukoil	-4.15	6385	12.901
Norilsk Nickel	-2.33	21612	6.502
Yandex	-3.67	5349.2	6.162

(74.6004 rubles – U.S. $1)

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