Stock market down ahead of weekend opposition rallies
MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - The Russian stock market closed Friday on a low ahead of the weekend's planned opposition rallies.
The MICEX index ended the day at 1376.11, down 0.7%, and the RTS was off 0.1% to 1394.12. The MICEX fell 0.5% in the week but, thanks to a stronger ruble, the dollar-denominated RTS rose 1.5%.
MICEX-RTS benchmark stocks moved up to 4% on Friday, with losses for VTB (-1.9%), Gazprom (-0.7%), MMC Norilsk Nickel (-1.4%), Polyus Gold (-3.8%), Rosneft (-1.2%), Surgutneftegas (-1.5%), FGC (-4%) and Tatneft (-0.6%).
There were gains for Gazprom Neft (+0.9%), Lukoil (+0.4%), Sberbank (+0.01%), NOVATEK (+0.1%) and Rostelecom (+2.5% ordinary, +1.2% prefs).
Second-tier decliners included MRSK North Caucasus (-5.1%), MRSK Center & Volga (-4.1%), Uralkali (-3.8%), Avtovaz (-3.2%), Raspadskaya (-2.6%) and Pharmacy Chain 36.6 (-2.5%).
There were gains for RAO ES East (+3.9%), Acron (+3.8%), E.ON Russia (+2.7%), Inter RAO (+1.9%) and TGK-14 (+1.8%).
Combined trading volume on the main MICEX-RTS market was 30.65 billion rubles, of which 9.917 billion rubles in Sberbank ordinary shares. Standard market turnover was $211.71 million and Classica - $1.378 million.