Stocks down undermined by falling Western bourses, oil price

MOSCOW, Jan 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market contracted on Wednesday following the Western trading floors and the oil price with only gold producers preventing a deeper fall, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.12% to 2,170.15 and the RTS decreased 0.34% to 987.02.

“The Russian market contracted on Wednesday. The shares of gold producers continue preventing the MOEX Russia Index from a deeper contraction. Polymetal reported a higher output in 2022, even though its revenue fell because of lower average prices for gold and silver,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Research, said.

Polymetal International gained 3.88% to 441.90 rubles.

Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the Russian market slid because the European bourses corrected downwards, the futures for the U.S. indices fell in expectation that Microsoft’s weak revenue would exert pressure on the hi-tech sector, and the Brent oil price decreased ahead of a U.S. Department of Energy report on its oil reserves, she said.

Pervaya’s portfolio manager Sofya Kirsanova said that the shares of gold producer Seligdar also rose by 1.79% to 48.33 rubles because of the general optimistic investor mood in the gold industry.

Freedom Finance Global analyst Vladimir Chernov said that national flagship carrier Aeroflot fell by 0.22% to 27.28 rubles on a statement of the Transport Ministry about a decrease of state support of air carriers in 2023.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.18	152.38	5.901
Polymetal	+3.88	441.90	2.696
Gazprom	+0.44	158.57	2.145
Kazanorgsintez prefs	+21.50	27.30	2.031
Lukoil	-0.62	3918.00	1.968

(68.7529 rubles – U.S. $1)

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