Russian stocks slip on oil, rbl falls, wait for cbank, Fed meetings

MOSCOW, Apr 27 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks decreased on Monday, the first day of a short week before long holidays, as investors were cautious waiting for meetings of the country’s central bank, which may cut the key rate, and the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) to be held later this week, amid drops in oil prices and the ruble rate, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.33% to 1,677.22 and the RTS decreased 1.42% to 1,022.78

“Most likely market participants do not want to take risks ahead of a meeting of the central bank’s board of directors, which will be held on Thursday,” Anton Fomin, analyst at InstaForex, said. Many investors believe the regulator will cut the key rate by at least one percentage point to 13% that will support domestic business but weaken the ruble further, he said.

“Investors are likely to be cautious in anticipation of a meeting of U.S.’ Fed, scheduled for April 29,” Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at Finam, said.

Low activity on the domestic stock market was also a result of upcoming May Day 4-day holidays, he said.

The stock market was also depressed by weakening Brent, which fell to below U.S. $65.25 per barrel by the end of the trading session, Alexander Kostyukov, analyst at Veles Capital, said.

At the same time, the ruble weakening to above 51.5 against the U.S dollar particularly supported Russian exporters, including MMK, a 2.75% increase, Severstal, a 2.75% increase, Acron, a 1.17% rise, and ALROSA, a 1.34% increase, the analyst said.

Russian power utility Irkutskenergo rose 39.62% after the company’s board of directors recommended paying record dividends for 2014 of no more than 2.1 rubles per share, Kostyukov said, adding that this will also support the company’s shares on Tuesday.

Lukoil rose 0.64% as the company’s board of directors will announce its decision concerning dividends on Tuesday, he said. Lukoil is likely to pay 153 rubles per share, which may secure a 5.7% yield.

Russian electronics retailer M. Video rose 1.49% after the company announced a strategy focused on online-sales that will cut its costs, Fomin said.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Monday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.73	75.20	9.552
Gazprom	-1.20	152.05	3.386
Norilsk Nickel	-0.56	9665.00	2.386
Lukoil	+0.64	2662.00	2.343
VTB	+0.12	0.05991	1.777

(50.2473 rubles – U.S. $1)

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