Stocks fall following Asian markets, Russian, U.S. sanctions

MOSCOW, Apr 18 (PRIME) -- The stock market decreased on Thursday in thin trade pushed down by the Asian markets’ fall, Russian sanctions against Ukraine and the U.S. measures against Venezuela, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.29% to 2,560.80 and the RTS index decreased 0.26% to 1,262.28.

“The domestic market preferred to decline, reacting to a fall of the Asian indices. There was no big news but oil does not aim at a level above U.S. $72 per barrel of Brent. Besides, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced another (set) of trade restrictions with Ukraine,” Andrei Kochetkov, Otkritie Broker’s analyst, said.

Moscow banned imports of Ukrainian machines, exports of oil and oil products to Ukraine in retaliation against Ukraine’s expansion of a ban on imports of Russian goods.

Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that optimism after the release of the Chinese gross domestic product (GDP) figures has waned because growth of the Chinese economy is at historical lows. Besides, aluminum producer Alcoa reduced its forecast for demand in China.

Kochetkov also said that activity declined dramatically due to the approach of Easter holidays in the U.S. and Europe.

Gaidar Gasanov, an expert at consulting company International Financial Center, said that the Russian market reacted to a certain extent to the news that the U.S. imposed more sanctions against the central bank of Venezuela and that can mean new sanctions for Russia as it cooperates with the country and with President Nicolas Maduro.

Kirsanova said that global depositary receipts (GDRs) of X5 Retail increased 2.80% and of Etalon Group 0.23% on the London Stock Exchange on strong reports for January–March.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.64	232.79	12.943
Gazprom	-1.35	161.79	3.185
Lukoil	+0.47	5610	2.596
Norilsk Nickel	-0.62	14510	1.650
Rosneft	-0.19	435.65	1.035

(63.9450 rubles – U.S. $1)

End