Russian stock market closes first week of May on minor note, losing around 6% on each index
MOSCOW. May 5 (Interfax) - The Russian stock market closed the first week of May on a minor note largely driven by negative external trends. The MICEX was able to hold at 1,380 points on Saturday, which is index's lowest point since December 23 of last year.
Blue chips on the MICEX went down by 0.3% to 1,386.41 points after hitting a session low of 1,381.25 points. The RTS Index decreased by 0.6% to 1,489.55 points. Ruble-based blue chips on the MICEX-RTS decreased within 1.1%.
The MICEX Index fell 5.9% for the week while the RTS decreased by 6.6%.
Decliners for the day were VTB , down 0.7%, Gazprom Neft - 0.9%, Lukoil - 0.5%, MMC Norilsk Nickel - 0.6%, Rosneft - 1.1%, Rostelecom - 1.1%, Sberbank - 0.5%, Surgutneftegas - 1.1%, Tatneft - 0.5%, and Federal Grid Company UES ) - 0.5%.
Posting gains for the day were Gazprom , up 0.8%, NOVATEK - 0.4%, and Polyus Gold - 1.3%.
Posting losses among second stocks on the MICEX-RTS on Saturday were shares in O2TV, down 3%, Sollers - 3.5%, Pharmacy Chain 36.6 - 2.5%, Novolipetsk Steel - 2.2%, Belon - 1.9%, and TMK - 1.3%.
Posting gains were VSMPO-Avisma , up 4.2%, Irkutskenergo - 3%, IDGC North Caucasus - 2.6%, Raspadskaya - 1.4%, and KamAZ - 1.4%.
Total stock trading on the MICEX-RTS main market for the day came to 9.587 billion rubles (of which 2.574 billion rubles went to shares in Gazprom), Standard sector deals - $64.613 million, and Classica sector transactions - $183,250.
