Stocks slide as Moscow wants to retaliate against US sanctions

MOSCOW, Apr 13 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks slid on Friday as Moscow discussed steps to retaliate against the U.S. for its recent expansion of anti-Russian sanctions, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 1.58% to 2,175.16 and the RTS decreased 1.83% to 1,104.51.

“The Russian market again switched into the red zone after Moscow announced its retaliation against Washington’s sanctions, which may worsen the prospects for a painless solution of the geopolitical conflict of Russia and the U.S. Among major counter-sanctions, Russia discusses restrictions on imports of U.S. goods and suspension of international cooperation in the nuclear power sphere,” Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that players of the local market also wanted to hedge their risks by selling stock.

“The weekend is coming, which means that investors won’t be able to react to any event that happens during the two days as politics doesn’t live by the schedule of the financial market,” Kochetkov said.

Vasily Oleinik, an expert at investment company Finam, also said that uncertainty around the conflict in Syria makes Russian investors minimize their risks prior to the weekend and take profit in many stocks.

“Over the past two days, all Russian exporters were among the growth leaders that is why we see sales in their shares today,” Oleinik said. Gas giant Gazprom lost 2.34% to 142.58 rubles, while oil companies Lukoil, Rosneft, and Surgutneftegas fell 1.94% to 3,902 rubles, 3.00% to 323 rubles, and 2.00% to 29.095 rubles, respectively.

Kochetkov also said that Moscow was discussing prohibition of cooperation with the U.S. in the aerospace industry , which had a significant negative impact on shares of titanium giant VSMPO-Avisma which shrank 6.25% to 16,350 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-3.54	204.70	22.455
PIK Group	-1.13	307.00	10.262
Lukoil	-1.94	3902.00	4.663
Gazprom	-2.34	142.58	3.795
Norilsk Nickel	+1.10	10490.00	3.328

(62.0659 rubles – U.S. $1)

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