Stocks ease following oil, Western trade, shrug off Kremlin Report

MOSCOW, Jan 30 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Tuesday in spite of falling Western bourses and oil prices as local investors shrugged off the U.S. list of government officials and businessmen that could be subjected to new sanctions, and the national currency firmed, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.17% to 2,280.36 and the RTS eased 0.05% to 1,274.94.

“Players of the Russian stock market reacted positively to the report of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which only contains a list of individuals against which some sanctions may possibly be discussed in the future. The absence of limitations on purchases of Russian OFZ federal bonds supported the ruble…and the RTS index grew because of that,” Daniil Yegorov, head of the trade strategy department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank SA, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that trading in Sberbank has been pointing to Tuesday’s market reaction to the U.S. list for a long time.

“Sberbank shares are usually seen as a derivative product that shows the attitude of non-residents toward Russian assets,” he said.

Common shares of Sberbank grew 2.92% to 257.80 rubles.

Kochetkov also said that the market saw some support from international rating agency Moody’s, which improved outlooks of some Russian banks and 19 non-financial companies to positive from stable after the improvement of the outlook on Russia’s ratings.

Yelena Kozhukhova, an analyst at Veles Broker, said that the local market was still unable to develop an upward movement as the negative impact of the external background outweighed positive factors “due to a speed up of contraction of oil prices and sales in shares at foreign bourses,” she said.

The Brent oil price lost 1.283% to U.S. $68.58 per barrel as of 6.13 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.92	257.80	16.755
Gazprom	-0.86	143.50	7.404
Magnit	+5.12	5419.00	3.757
Lukoil	-1.72	3713.00	3.099
Rosneft	-1.23	342.10	2.195

(56.2908 rubles – U.S. $1)

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