eavyweights Sberbank, Gazprom pull Russian stock market down
MOSCOW, Apr 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market plunged on Thursday dragged downward by the falling quotes of heavyweights natural gas giant Gazprom and the country’s largest bank Sberbank, as well as on capital outflow, analysts said.
The MICEX index plunged 1.67% to 1,401.73 points, and the RTS index plummeted 1.43% to 1,433.08 points.
“The Russian market’s nosedive on Thursday is explained mostly by the psychological factors of the players… Such a dramatic fall in the quotes of Russian companies was triggered by two main factors. The first being the closure of Sberbank’s register of shareholders, while the second factor is the downward breakthrough by Gazprom of its130 ruble threshold. The two behemoths, occupying the lion’s stake in Russian stock indices, dragged the whole market down,” Veles Capital analyst Alexander Kostyukov said.
The quotes of Sberbank fell 0.94% by the closing bell, while the quotes of Gazprom slid 2.66%.
Ivan Fomenko, the director of Absolut Bank’s trust management department, attributed the fall on the domestic floors to the sales of Russian assets by foreign investors. “It is evident that we are witnessing a change in capital flow in favor of developed markets, where growth prospects are estimated to be high. A slow-down in economic growth is also imposing a discouraging effect on Russian companies,” Fomenko said.
Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) and power utility IDGC Holding underperformed the broader market, falling 5.64% and 3.42% respectively, amid the consideration of a strategy to develop the electric power industry by 2030, Kostyukov said.
Resisting the general trend, major Russian mobile operator MTS gained 0.73%. Forum investment analyst Konstantin Zasimenko said that the operator’s shares carry dividend payments, “on the whole, the telecommunication industry’s stocks act as protective assets under a general downward correction.”
Below were the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Thursday:
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