Russian stocks slide on growth of geopolitical risks

MOSCOW, May 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market decreased on Tuesday, losing the gains for the last five trading sessions, as the Ukraine’s east witnessed new outbursts of violence, analysts said.

The MICEX dropped 2.21% to 1,417.32, and the RTS went down 2.86% to 1,297.50.

“The geopolitical risks are still there. We should not expect much optimism over the fact that Ukraine held the presidential elections. For the Russian market, everything will depend on how the dialogue between the two countries will develop, on how Kiev and Moscow will hold gas negotiations,” Metropol analyst Sergei Filchenkov said.

As of Tuesday’ evening, the Ukrainian army was preparing to attack the city of Donetsk to eliminate all pro-Russia rebels. There was shooting in the airport of Donetsk, now controlled by the army which defeated the separatists.

VTB was one of the biggest losers on Tuesday, after reporting a 98% net profit fall on the year in January–March, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards, Ivan Fomenko, director of Absolut Bank’s trust management department, said. Sbebank’s shares were also weighed by this report, he said.

Norilsk Nickel outperformed the market after a report that the company will save 12 billion euros until 2016 out of cancellation of export duties for copper and nickel ahead of schedule, Filchenkov said. Nickel spot prices are high enough to support the Norilsk Nickel’s shares, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-2.92	84.33	12.750
Gazprom	-2.33	142.40	7.965
VTB	-2.29	0.04686	6.165
Lukoil	-2.16	1930.3	2.757
Norilsk Nickel	+0.34	1930.3	1.891

(34.0771 rubles – U.S. $1)

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