Tensions around North Korea push Russian stocks down again

MOSCOW, Aug 10 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks fell on Thursday as higher oil prices were unable to support the local market and outweigh the negative impact from geopolitical tensions around North Korea, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.79% to 1,960.23 and the RTS decreased 0.55% to 1,029.26.

“The Russian stock market was in the red zone on Thursday due to a negative impact coming from international floors because of the situation with North Korea…A rapid plunge of Russian stock indices in the second half of the day was caused by a lack of optimism on the U.S. stock market about the situation on the Korean Peninsula,” Mikhail Krylov, director of the research department at investment company Golden Hills Capital AM, said.

North Korean state media said that Pyongyang could prepare a launch of four missiles in direction of the U.S. territory of Guam in a matter of days, while U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said the country would be “grossly overmatched” in any war against the U.S. and its allies.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the pessimism has prevailed at the world trade floors, and Russian indices “followed their European colleagues and ignored the oil price rise to above U.S. $53 per barrel.”

The Brent oil price rose 0.68% to $53.06 as of 5.44 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Kochetkov also said that demand for defensive assets pushed shares of gold producers higher, including Polyus that gained 4.24% to 4,203 rubles.

Shares of uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA lost 1.75% to 81.86 rubles after the company said the hydrological situation at the Mir mine was worsening. It is possible that the flooding of the mine will have long-term consequences for the company, Kochetkov said.

Shares of oil company Gazprom Neft outperformed the market and rose 0.56% to 207.15 rubles after the company said its net profit calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) rose 23.1% on the year to 111.269 billion rubles in January–June, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.69	172.20	5.194
Gazprom	-0.53	118.05	2.161
ALROSA	-1.75	81.86	1.545
Lukoil	-1.28	2901.50	1.374
Norilsk Nickel	-0.96	9180.00	1.367

(59.9611 rubles – U.S. $1)

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