Strong ruble, commodities’ prices weigh upon Russian stocks

MOSCOW, Nov 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks eased on Tuesday under the pressure of a strong ruble, a slight fall of oil prices, and concerns about the Chinese economy, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.09% to 2,143.93 and the RTS decreased 0.38% to 1,156.19.

“The MOEX Russia Index was under the pressure of traditional factors. The benchmark was under the pressure from a rather strong ruble, which hurts exporting companies. Moreover, a fall of prices for industrial metals still provides negative momentum to some extent. Another negative fact, obviously, is that oil prices have stopped their growth,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, said that the local market focused on unfavorable dynamics of oil prices, although foreign background was favorable, as major European bourses gained up to 0.4%, and the U.S. indices – Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 – grew 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively, in the first 30 minutes of trade, he said.

“The more noticeable the Chinese economy’s woes, the worse is the situation at all emerging markets …Today the composite index of the Asian region fell 0.5% in the morning, but closed flat. Small money injections of the Chinese regulator stabilized the situation, but the snowball is growing. Problems of the financial sector alone in China reach trillions U.S. dollars, not to mention the bubble on the housing market and constant sales,” Vasily Oleinik, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, an analyst at Veles Broker, said that preferred shares of metals and mining group Mechel were one of the gain leaders rising 7.22% to 117.30 rubles after the publication of strong financial results. Its net profit attributable to shareholders doubled on the year to 11.114 billion rubles in January–September, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.43	230.00	9.263
Gazprom	+1.26	135.18	3.570
Norilsk Nickel	-3.13	10220.00	2.191
Magnit	-2.30	6450.00	1.795
Lukoil	-0.65	3343.00	1.649

(58.2773 rubles – U.S. $1)

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