Stocks fall on weak oil price ahead of Russian cbank, Fed meeting

MOSCOW, Dec 7 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Monday in line with oil prices on the background of geopolitical tensions and in expectation of a meeting of the central bank over the key rate scheduled for Friday and a U.S. Federal Reserve System’s (Fed) meeting, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.80% to 1,741.14 and the RTS decreased 2.26% to 793.36.

“On Monday, December 7, the Russian stock market remained in the red again…The Russian market was majorly under pressure due to weakening oil prices that was expected in principle,” Artyom Zvyagilsky, a senior analyst at MFX Broker, said.

“Investors’ activity took a lead from the still tense geopolitical situation. The market is also depressed by a possibility that the Fed will increase the key rate at the next meeting scheduled for December 16 and by uncertainty over a similar meeting of the Russian central bank on December 11,” Zvyagilsky said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the U.S. may take “tough measures” against Russia and Iran if those countries create difficulties for settlement of a conflict in Syria and this intensified the local bearish sentiment, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Obrazovanie Bank, said.

The fall of the dollar-denominated RTS was sped up by the ruble weakening to about 69 against the U.S. dollar by the closing bell.

Preferred shares of Sberbank increased 1.62% as the bank’s net interest income amounted to 676.5 billion rubles in January–November showing signs of a gradual revival, Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Transaero fell 2.01% after the Moscow Arbitration Court ordered it to repay 5.3 billion rubles to Aeroflot, whose stocks gained 2.91%, Kovalyov said.

Preferred shares of Surgutneftegas rose 2.06% on the back of the ruble depreciation because the company has significant reserves in hard currencies, Manzhos said.

Other oil and gas producers, including Gazprom, Lukoil and Rosneft were put under pressure by the oil price, Manzhos said.

Non-oil exporters were supported by a weak ruble with fertilizer produces PhosAgro and Uralkali rising 2.04% and 1.38%, respectively, Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Okritie Broker, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.05	103.00	9.469
Gazprom	-2.32	134.50	5.082
Lukoil	-3.21	2410.00	2.776
Norilsk Nickel	+0.84	8925.00	2.238
Rosneft	-2.96	244.00	1.480

(67.6698 rubles – U.S. $1)

End