On Thursday, trading on the Russian stock market opened with mixed dynamics of blue chips prices against the backdrop of mixed signals from external sites, the Moscow Exchange index sank 0.2% in a minute of trading, the RTS index did not change against the background of the ruble strengthening.

Gazprom’s shares rose in price on the news about the resumption of gas pumping through the Nord Stream after preventive maintenance, the price of O’Key receipts soared by 12% on news of dividends.

By 10:01, the Moscow Exchange index was down 0.2% to 2072.23 points, the RTS index was down 0.001% to 1188.77 points. The prices of the majority of blue chips on the Moscow Exchange changed within 7.2%.

The dollar fell by 49 kopecks to 54.81 rubles.

Shares of Polymetal (-7.2%), NLMK (-1.2%), Severstal (-0.9%), OZON receipts (-0.5%), Inter RAO (- 0.4%), LUKOIL (-0.3%), Tatneft (-0.3%), Polyus PJSC (-0.3%), MMK (-0.2%) , AFK Sistema (-0.2%), Norilsk Nickel (-0.2%), UC Rusal (-0.2%), RusHydro (-0.1%), TCS Group receipts (- 0.1%).

Shares of Yandex (+0.8%), Gazprom (+0.5%), Moscow Exchange (+0.5%), Aeroflot (+0.3%), Rosneft have risen in price (+0.3%), Gazprom Neft (+0.3%), Surgutneftegaz (+0.2%), ALROSA (+0.1%), Sberbank (+0.1%) .

The Nord Stream gas pipeline, in accordance with the schedule , resumed transportation of gas from Russia to Germany from 7:00 Moscow time on Thursday after scheduled maintenance work that had been carried out since July 11.

On Wednesday evening, it became known that the board of directors of the O’Key retailer approved interim dividends for the period from January 1 to June 21, 2022 in the amount of 8.5 million euros, or 0.03159 euros per share. Dividends will be available to shareholders registered in the register as of August 1. Registry closing dates and payout dates for GDR holders will be announced by the depository (Bank of New York Mellon) in due course, the company said in a statement.

Taking into account the closing price of trading in O’Key receipts on the Moscow Exchange on July 20 (17.99 rubles), their dividend yield will be 11% per annum. On Thursday morning, O’Key receipts jumped to 20.2 rubles (+12.3%).

According to Vladimir Solovyov, chief analyst at Promsvyazbank, on Thursday the situation on world markets was mixed.

The day before, the lack of ideas for purchases did not allow the Moscow Exchange index to overcome the mark of 2100 points. On Thursday, the stock market may sink due to the newly announced and expected anti-Russian Western sanctions, but it is likely that during the day it will be able to win back some of the losses. The target range for the Moscow Exchange index of 2050-2100 points remains. A positive for the market may be the announcement of the resumption of gas pumping through the Nord Stream.

According to Alexei Antonov, head of the investment consulting department at Alor Broker, the Moscow Exchange index may once again take the path of decline to 2,000 points.

On Thursday morning, it became known that Russian gas began to flow back to Germany via Nord Stream. Thus, the event, which earlier was the growth of the shares of „Gazprom”, took place. There are no other growth drivers for securities, so it is possible that they will resume their decline, or, at best, fall flat.

Brent crude is trading just above $106 a barrel. It is quite possible that investors will begin to fix speculative profits on Rosneft shares and buy Lukoil shares that have lagged behind them. The depressing situation in metallurgy was confirmed by the main shareholder of NLMK, Vladimir Lisin, who said that exports had become unprofitable , and ferrous metallurgy lost 30-50% of production. Shares of Norilsk Nickel continue to fight for the mark of 15 thousand rubles. apiece, but it is possible that soon the paper MMC will try to keep the level of 12 thousand rubles.

However, the traditional depreciation of the ruble at the end of the month will provide some support to the shares of exporters, especially metallurgists. But it will be next week, but for now we can expect another strengthening of the Russian currency. The Moscow Exchange index on Thursday is more likely to resume sliding towards 2,000 points, Antonov believes.

In the US stock indices rose by 0.2-1.6% on the eve and reached their maximum values ​​at the close since the beginning of June.

Traders continued to follow the publication of company reports for the second quarter, evaluating their performance against the backdrop of high inflation and recession fears in the US economy, as well as assessing the latest statistical data.

US existing home sales in June fell 5.4% month-on-month to 5.12 million homes on an annual basis, the lowest since June 2020, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said in a report. Experts on average expected a decline to 5.38 million compared to 5.41 million in May. The reduction in sales compared to June last year amounted to 14.2%.

In Asia, stock indices were mixed on Thursday (Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4%, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.9%, China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 1%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.1%), weakly ” minus” American stock futures (the contract for the S & P500 index dipped by 0.1%).

The market continues to follow the corporate reporting season that has begun and the meetings of the world’s central banks. Investors are concerned about the prospect of raising key rates to fight record inflation levels. Their concerns are related to possible risks of economic recession.

The Bank of Japan decided to keep the parameters of ultra-soft monetary policy. The short-term interest rate on deposits of commercial banks with the Central Bank was left at minus 0.1% per annum, the target yield on ten-year government bonds is about zero.

However, the Central Bank raised the forecast for consumer price growth in the country in the current fiscal year to 2.3% from 1.9% announced in April. At the same time, the forecast for GDP growth was worsened to 2.4% from 2.9%.

The volume of Japanese exports in June jumped by 19.4% in annual terms, to 8.628 trillion yen, against the backdrop of strong demand for mining raw materials abroad, according to a report from the country’s Ministry of Finance. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected a 16% increase. The volume of imports at the same time increased by 46.1% and amounted to 10.012 trillion yen.

In the oil market on Thursday morning, prices sag amid signals of weakening demand for gasoline in the US. By 10:01 am, September Brent futures were down 0.7% to $106.14 per barrel (-0.4% on Wednesday), September WTI futures were down 0.9% to $98.96 per barrel ( -0.9% the day before).