Russian stocks slide on shooting near Donetsk, Lugansk

MOSCOW, Feb 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market fell on Thursday as worries about a potential full-scale war in Ukraine were exacerbated by shootings in the self-proclaimed republics on the east of the country, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 3.71% to 3,511.08, and the RTS index decreased 4.89% to 1,450.02.

"The Russian stocks resumed their decline. The fact that the U.S., U.K. and NATO did not acknowledge the removal of the military units from the Southern and Western districts to their permanent bases was the reason for pessimism,” Andrei Kochetkov of Otkritie Research said.

“Newspaper Politico moved the date of Russian invasion past February 20, there is a shooting near Donetsk again. This means that notorious geopolitics does not allow the Russian assets to start stable growth."

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investment, said that by the main session start in Moscow the escalation of the conflict was proven by supervisors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the global markets fell deeper than before. But after that some of the losses were erased, because the markets became immune to such shocks.

According to Kochetkov, only Polymetal and Polyus grew 2.02% and 1.76% respectively on the Moscow Exchange, which was not only a usual reaction to the growth of tensions, but also a response to the gold price rise above U.S. $1,880 per Troy ounce.

Novatek was among the loss leaders, sliding 4.93% because of the prospects of troubles with the sales of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in Europe if the U.S. launches 18 LNG lines in a year. The financial sector also fell below the general market level on sanctions risks, Kochetkov said.

The energy sector reacted to the falling oil prices and retention of risks for Nord Stream 2. If the U.S. consolidates a higher market share in the E.U. on the back of the political risks, Gazprom and Novatek can forget about raising sales, according to Kochetkov.

Babin said that the oil prices decreased as the U.S. and Iran entered an advanced stage of the nuclear deal talks. Iran and South Korea are ready to restart the oil sales, according to the news reports, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-6.02	261.05	62.628
Gazprom	-3.58	324.46	30.065
Yandex	-5.38	3827.2	14.943
Lukoil	-4	6691	10.931
Rosneft	-5.26	541.5	6.903

(75.0141 rubles – U.S. $1)  

End %%mk/jst%%