Russian stocks slide on falling foreign markets, ruble fall

MOSCOW, Apr 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Monday in reaction to the falling foreign bourses and ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.37% to 2,557.16 and the RTS decreased 5.83% to 1,017.05.

“The external background was moderately negative. The market of the Asia–Pacific region closed lower, and the European floors and the futures for the U.S. indices also decreased,” Alexandra Ovchinnikova, analyst at managing company Pervaya, said.

“The oil price was slightly below U.S. $100 per barrel of the Brent blend as the additional pressure factors include the intent of the International Energy Agency member countries and the continuous lockdowns in China.”

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the foreign stock floors were in a pessimistic mood and the Russian market was trading close to the short-term resistance lines.

“The Bank of Russia is also gradually reducing support of the ruble, which has a negative impact on the currency and on the RTS index as well. Europe and the U.S. are tracking mixed political and general economic signals,” Kozhukhova said.

Otkritie Research’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said that the metals and mining index gained almost 1% thanks to the shares of gold producers Petropavlovsk Plc and Polymetal International, as the spot price of gold climbed above $1,960 per ounce. Petropavlovsk rose by 4.85% to 12.43 rubles, while Polymetal gained 2.31% to 925 rubles.

Investors continued reacting to inclusion of diamond mining giant ALROSA in the U.S. sanction list, and the company lost 3.61% to 79.55 rubles, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.50	138.69	6.769
Gazprom	-2.70	234.55	3.747
Rosneft	+2.72	414.00	2.278
ALROSA	-3.61	79.55	1.371
VTB	-3.85	0.0215	1.300

(74.8501 rubles – U.S. $1)

End %%md/jst%%