Russian stock market slips, positive U.S. stats soften fall
MOSCOW. Aug 26 (Interfax) - The majority of blue chips on the Russian stock market posted losses following declining oil prices, as the MICEX Stock Exchange was unable to hold above 1,100 points. However, strong U.S. economic statistics helped mitigate the overall losses.
Benchmark stocks on the MICEX Stock Exchange slipped by 1.44% to 1,099.77 points while the RTS Index, which closed an hour earlier than normal, declined by 2.81% to 1,072.05 points.
The drop in futures on the RTS came to 9.7 points against the base asset, indicating a generally negative mood among investors.
Posting losses on the MICEX Stock Exchange were Lukoil , down 2.1% and 5.5% on the RTS, Rosneft - 1.7%, Gazprom Neft - 1.5%, Surgutneftegas - 1.4%, Tatneft - 3.3% and 4.1% on the RTS and Gazprom - 1%.
Other decliners for the day were Sberbank , down 0.9%, Polyus Gold - 2.8% and VTB - 0.9%.
Posting losses among second tier stocks were Novolipetsk Metallurgical Combine (NLMK), down 5.1%, Avtovaz - 4.1%, Sollers - 3.1% and RBC Information Systems - 3.2%.
Posting gains were Mosenergosbyt , up 9.4%, prefs for Transneft - 5.7%, Uralsvyazinform - 9.4%, Sibirtelecom - 8.9%, VolgaTelecom - 3.7%, Magnit - 1.9% and North-West Telecom - 3.6%.
Total RTS Classic Trading for the day came to $10.08 million, RTS Standard - $282.08 million and MICEX Stock Exchange transactions - 64.199 billion rubles, led by common shares in Sberbank with 21.826 billion rubles in deals.