MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. The Russian stock indices switched to decline on the Moscow Exchange on Wednesday.

By the end of trading session, the MOEX index decreased by 0.38% to 2,943.43 points, the dollar-denominated RTS index fell by 0.96% to 1,015.13 points.

At the end of the day, the dollar-to-ruble rate rose by 0.38% to 91.28 rubles, the euro rate went up by 0.36% to 102.29 rubles, the yuan rate edged up by 0.013%, to 12.64 rubles.

"The psychological mark of 3,000 points has become an obstacle to the continued growth of the Russian market. Showing growth for several trading sessions in a row and starting Wednesday morning with a slight plus, then the market turned around as expected," said Alexander Shepelev, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.

Oil price added 0.5% and reached $80.27 per barrel, the expert added.

On Wednesday, shares of Sberbank lost 0.26%, Rosneft - 0.63%, Gazprom - 0.81%, and Lukoil - 0.42%. The leaders of decline were preferred shares of Transneft (-10.1%).

Shares of the energy company TGK-1 (+12.9%) were the leaders of growth on the Russian stock market on Wednesday, in anticipation of the publication of strong operating results for the first half of 2023 at the end of the week, Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global, said. Among the companies that showed growth today, experts noted shares of the X5 Group, which grew by more than 6% thanks to good reporting figures and geographical expansion.

BCS World of Investments expects that on July 20 the MOEX index will be in the range of 2,940-2,955 points.

Freedom Finance Global expects that tomorrow the MOEX index may vary in the corridor of 2,900 - 3,000 points, the dollar/ruble pair will fluctuate in the range of 90-92 rubles, the euro/ruble pair in the range of 101-103 rubles, the yuan/ruble pair in the corridor 12.3-12.7 rubles.