10 Dec 2010 11:00

Stocks mixed at open on MICEX; index down 0.07% in first minute

MOSCOW. Dec 10 (Interfax) - Russian stocks were mixed at the open of trading on the MICEX exchange on Friday.

The MICEX index was down 0.07% to 1,659.38 points as of 10:31 a.m. and the RTS index was up 0.14% to 1,713.93 points.

Among decliners, VTB was down 0.1%, Gazprom edged down 0.02%, MMC Norilsk Nickel - down 0.1%, Lukoil - down 0.5% and Surgutneftegas - down 0.1%.

Polyus Gold posted the biggest decline on the unofficial news that Mikhail Prokhorov's Onexim Group would sell $100 million in Polyus shares in a private placement for $35 per ADR. The bid book opened yesterday evening and will close on Friday morning. Renaissance Capital is the placement organizer.

Each Polyus share is represented by two ADR. Thus, $100 million at the sale price quoted would equate to 2,858,143 ADR or 1,428,572 shares, or 0.75% of charter capital. Polyus ADRs were priced at $36.63 each on the London Stock Exchange on Thursday.

Among advancers on MICEX, Gazprom Neft and Rosneft both edged higher 0.1%, Rostelecom was up 0.8%, Sberbank Russia rose 0.3% and Tatneft inched up 0.02%.

RTS$#&: GAZP, GMKN, LKOH, PLZL, ROSN, RTKM, SBER, SIBN, SNGS, TATN, VTBR