Russian stocks seen mixed ahead of Fed key rate decision

MOSCOW, Jun 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market traded within a narrow range and closed mixed on Wednesday prior to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on the key rate change and the FIFA World Cup starting in Moscow and pulling the mass media’s attention, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.04% to 2,270.73 and the RTS rose 0.49% to 1,147.57.

“There was low range volatility on the Russian stock market. As a result, the MOEX Russia Index and the RTS finished the day with marginal changes… The meeting of the U.S. (financial) market regulator is the major event for today… Key interest rate hike expectations exert pressure on emerging markets,” analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that the FIFA World Cup will start in Russia on Thursday and the mass media are mainly focused on the event which casts economic news aside.

Forex Club analyst Ivan Marchena said that power grid operator Rosseti was among the best performers. The stock jumped 3.18% to 0.8301 rubles after the company’s engineers promptly restored operations of the Crimean power bridge after a breakdown at the Taman power substation in the Krasnodar Region.

Hydropower giant RusHydro gained 3.01% to 0.718 rubles following a sound International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) financial report for January–March marking a 22% rise in the net profit.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.21	215	10.378
Gazprom	-0.9	141	3.332
Lukoil	-0.47	4140	3.244
ALROSA	-0.88	90.2	1.901
Magnit	-1.01	4702	1.854

(62.3431 rubles – U.S. $1)

End