MOSCOW: Russia's major stock indices softened on Tuesday morning, as investors remained cautious ahead of the March 4 presidential election and lower oil prices hurt sentiment towards the energy exporter.
At 0747 GMT the rouble-denominated MICEX index of Russian stocks had shed 0.3 percent to 1588.6 points, retreating further from the seven-month high of 1600 points that was briefly reached on Monday. The dollar-denominated RTS index was down 0.1 percent to 1726.9 points.
Russian markets are expected to remain subdued in the run-up to Sunday's election, reflecting investor uncertainty. Although Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is widely expected to win, recent mass protests against alleged electoral fraud have raised questions about the country's political stability.
Russia's largest oil company Rosneft outperformed the market with a rise of 1.7 percent, following a report in the Kommersant daily on Tuesday saying that Rosneft had settled a pricing dispute with Chinese customer CNPC that has lasted for more than a year.
The newspaper said Rosneft's board of directors is meeting today to approve changes to the contract with CNPC, which will provide a discount of $1.5 per barrel in return for CNPC fully settling a $134 million debt.
In a Tuesday morning comment, analysts at VTB Capital called the contract revision "mildly negative" for Rosneft, calculating that it would reduce Rosneft's annual EBITDA by around $100 million.
The Rosneft board meeting is also expected to determine the price and timing of a planned $500 million share buy-back, which would enable minorities opposing the contract revision to sell their Rosneft shares.
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