Russian stocks slide on Sberbank report, key rate, ruble growth

MOSCOW, Dec 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Monday because the financial report of top bank Sberbank disappointed investors who were already jittery by the possibility of the central bank raising its key rate further, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell by 1.75% to 3,026.17 and the RTS decreased 0.60% to 1,047.95.

“The Russian stock market fell into the red zone from the first minutes of trade on Monday … Sberbank’s November report was not as good as its reports for the previous months. The ruble could have changed the situation, but the Russian currency continued rising after showing some uncertainty in the early morning,” Otkritie Research’s expert Andrei Kochetkov said.

The bank’s net profit calculated under Russian Accounting Standards fell to 115.4 billion rubles in November from 124.7 billion rules in the same month of 2022, and the return on equity went down to 22.1% as compared with the January–November figure of 25%. As a result, the bank lost 3% to 257.20 rubles and the entire financial sector of the bourse contracted by 3.03%, Kochetkov said.

“The MOEX Russia Index continued its downward movement after a three-week fall. The negative momentum for the Russian shares comes from a noticeable strengthening of the ruble and expectations of the Friday meeting of the Bank of Russia, when the key rate will most likely be raised by another 100 basis points to 16% annually,” Igor Dodonov, analyst at Finam, said.

The combination of factors caused investors to ignore the ongoing rebound of oil prices and the positive foreign market mood. Judging by the technical analysis, the MOEX Russia Index has fallen below its 50-day sliding average level, and continues moving within a wide sideways range of 3,015–3,283, Dodonov said.

Freedom Finance Global analyst Natalya Milchakova said that gas giant Gazprom outperformed the market significantly and gained 2.29% to 165.20 rubles because the air temperature has been below the climate average since the beginning of December in many Russian cities. It even allowed the company to set a daily historical record of 1.717 billion cubic meters of daily supplies to the consumers in the country on December 8, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.00	257.20	18.034
Gazprom	+2.29	165.20	7.487
Lukoil	-2.17	6985.00	6.060
Mechel	+0.61	279.19	4.499
Yandex	-5.26	2214.60	4.174

(91.6402 rubles – U.S. $1)

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