MOSCOW, May 24. /TASS/. The Russian stock market declined in the course of trading on the Moscow Exchange on Friday.

By the end pf the trading, the MOEX index fell by 1.34% to 3,396.5 points, the dollar-denominated RTS index decreased by 0.77% to 1,195.58 points.

The yuan-to-ruble rate decreased by 0.82% to 12.288 rubles, the dollar-to-ruble rate fell by 0.54% to 89.52 rubles, the euro-to-ruble went down by 0.32% to 97.3 rubles.

"The Russian stock market ended the week with a decline, the MOEX index retreated to 3,377 points. Almost all blue chips suffered losses. The strengthening of the ruble, the fallout from Gazprom’s decision not to pay dividends and the Friday factor predetermined the increased activity of sellers," Alexander Bakhtin, investment strategist at BCS World investments, explained.

On Friday, the growth leaders were shares of Sovcomflot (+1.4%), which could be influenced by the release of the company’s strong financial results under IFRS for the 1st quarter of 2024, Freedom Finance Global leading analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

The leaders of the decline were shares of the LSR developer (-4.9%), probably due to the fact that the Bank of Russia confirmed the future abolition of preferential mortgages from July 1, the expert believes. The forecast of BCS World of Investments for the MOEX index on May 27 is 3,375-3,475 points. As for the dollar-to-ruble rate the forecast is 89-92 rubles.

Freedom Finance Global expects that the MOEX index will fluctuate in the range of 3,350-3,450 points, the dollar-to-ruble rate may show dynamics in the range of 88-90.5 rubles, the euro-to-ruble rate will vary in the range of 96-98 rubles, the yuan-to-ruble rate will be in the range of 12.2-12.7 rubles.