Russian stocks ended the session in negative territory on Friday, led by declines across Mining, Oil & Gas and Manufacturing names. At the close in Moscow, the MOEX Russia Index lost 1.04% and registered a new 52-week low.
On an individual stock basis, the top performers on the MOEX Russia Index were PIK SHb PJSC (MCX:PIKK), which climbed 4.55% or 25.60 points to finish at 588.00; AFK Sistema PJSC (MCX:AFKS), which advanced 2.06% or 0.27 points to end at 13.52; and TATNEFT n.a. V.D. Shashin (MCX:TATN), up 2.02% or 10.60 points to 535.60 in late trading.
Conversely, the weakest names included United Company Rusal IPJSC (MCX:RUAL), which dropped 6.60% or 2.21 points to close at 31.34; GMK Noril'skiy Nikel' PAO (MCX:GMKN), down 4.51% or 6.20 points to 131.70; and AK ALROSA PJSC (MCX:ALRS), which fell 4.45% or 1.13 points to 24.25.
Market breadth on the Moscow Stock Exchange skewed heavily toward decliners, with 186 stocks falling compared with 57 advancers, while 7 issues finished unchanged.
Measures of expected market volatility also moved higher. The Russian Volatility Index - RVI, which gauges the implied volatility of MOEX Russia Index options, rose 4.67% to 29.61, marking a new three-month high.
Commodities and currency markets showed mixed readings during the session. Gold Futures for August delivery were down 1.72% or 73.00 to $4,172.90 a troy ounce. In energy markets, Crude oil for delivery in July edged lower by 0.12% or 0.09 to $76.51 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.66% or 0.53 to trade at $80.38 a barrel.
On the foreign exchange front, USD/RUB moved up 0.39% to 73.60, while EUR/RUB fell 0.29% to 83.76. The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.10% at 100.52.
Context and interpretation
The session’s price action was dominated by selling pressure in resource and industrial names, mirrored by a pickup in implied volatility as measured by the RVI. Commodity prices did not move uniformly, with gold and front-month crude falling while Brent gained marginally. Currency pairs tied to the ruble also showed divergent moves on the day.