* Russian stocks fall as risk appetite wanes
* Norilsk Nickel underperforms after court ruling
* Rouble gains against dollar, flat against euro
By Maya Dyakina
MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Russian shares fell in early trading onWednesday, following emerging market peers and bruised by rising risk aversionglobally, while the rouble was steady, supported by higher oil prices.
At 0857 GMT the rouble-denominated MICEX index
was down 0.5 percentat 1,465.6 while the dollar-denominated RTS index
was off 0.7 percent at1,484.3. Emerging market equities were down 0.4 percent as persistent worriesabout the euro zone debt crisis and about global corporate earnings weighed onrisk appetite. Russian assets however were underpinnned by a sharp jump in theoil price on Tuesday.
"There are no reasons for heavy selling and the market will be supported byyesterday's surge in oil prices," wrote Elena Kozhukhova, an analyst at Aton, ina note.
Shares of Norilsk Nickel
, the world's largest nickel and palladiumminer, was one of the major fallers, down 1 percent, after Russian aluminiumgroup RUSAL
won a Siberian court ruling against the company.
"It may be perceived that political support for Rusal has strengthened inconnection with the appointment of Mathias Warnig as Rusal's chairman," analystsat Alfa-bank wrote in a note, suggesting the news was negative for Norilsk.
Fast-growing Russian retailer Magnit
saw minor gains in its shareprice, after the company reported a 36 percent rise in September sales.
The rouble was helped by the higher oil price, rising by 0.1 percent to31.20 against the dollar
, but was flat against the euro and theeuro-dollar currency basket.
Oil prices - a key source of revenues for Russia and a major driver of therouble - dipped slightly on Wednesday but were still above $114 a barrel afterrising more than 2 percent on Tuesday on escalating tension on the border ofTurkey and Syria.
Russia's Finance Ministry will offer up to 35 billion roubles ($1.12billion) of OFZ treasury bonds
later in the day. Analysts atVTB Capital say demand for 10-year bonds is unlikely to exceed 20 billionroubles, while an indicated yield of 7.78-7.83 percent provides a 5 basis pointspremium over the secondary market.
Russian Latest Net % % ChangeMarkets Change Change on yearSTOCKSMICEX1465,62 -7,32 -0,50 4,52RTS1484,34 -9,82 -0,66 7,42London ADRs
861,64 -1,91 -0,22 10,69
Emrg Mkt Indx
992,95 -3,64 -0,37 8,35
MSCI Russia
794,08 -3,99 -0,50 7,78
Sberbank
92,21 -0,42 -0,45 16,93VTB0,05 -0,00 -0,72 -8,28Gazprom156,52 -0,63 -0,40 -8,63LUKOIL1941,90 -5,80 -0,30 14,06
Rostelecom
135,91 -0,71 -0,52 -10,59
Dollar/Rouble
31,20 0,04 0,11 -2,95
Euro/Rouble
40,14 -0,03 -0,07 -3,83
Rouble basket
35,22 0,01 0,02 -3,40DEBT Bid Ask %Rtn CouponRussia 10-yr
7,66 7,65 -0,03 7,60
bondMONEY MARKET Bid Ask CloseOvernight6,05 6,55 5,89rateTABLE FROM POWER PLUS PRO
All data taken from Reuters at 0857 GMT
($1 = 31.1605 Russian roubles)
(Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Editing by Susan Fenton)
((maya.dyakina@thomsonreuters.com)(+7-495-775-12-42))
Keywords: RUSSIA MARKETS/