Stocks close mixed on global uncertainty prior to US CPI data

MOSCOW, Mar 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Monday due to an uncertain global mood, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.27% to 2,318.01 and the RTS fell 0.18% to 1,283.18.

“The trade volume of the Moscow Exchange plunged substantially which may be explained by investor unwillingness to make large deals prior to the U.S. inflation statistics publication scheduled for Tuesday,” Yevgeniya Abramovich, head of the currency risks research department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank S.A, said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) grew 2.68% to 149.45 rubles after its board of directors recommended paying 3.36 rubles per share in final dividends for 2017.

Power producer Territorial Generating Compay-1 (TGC-1) gained 1.53% to 0.011945 rubles on a sound financial statement for 2017 marking a 50% jump in the net profit.

Grocery retailer Magnit added 0.76% to 5,154 after the Federal Antimonopoly Service said it had approved the purchase of 29.1% stake in it by VTB Bank from founder Sergei Galitsky for about 138 billion rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.11%	274.3	6.527
Gazprom	+1.1%	141.35	2.393
Magnit	+0.76%	5154	2.197
Rosneft	+0.46%	314.7	2.139
VTB Bank	-1.01%	0.05571	1.848

(56.8011 rubles – U.S. $1)

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