MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. In July, the largest banks and retail investors purchased shares for 20.2 billion rubles ($225 mln) and 14.2 billion rubles ($159 mln), respectively, providing the main support to the market after the Bank of Russia raised the key rate, the regulator reported.

In July, the negative dynamics which has been observed since May 2024 remained on the Russian stock market. "The decline in the main indices was due to persistent inflationary pressure and the adjustment of market expectations regarding the tightness of monetary policy," the regulator said in its review of the financial market.

Overall, the MOEX index fell by 6.7% over the month. Without taking into account the impact of dividend payments, the decline in the MOEX index would have been 1.6 times less and would have amounted to 3.6%.

In July, the largest decline among sectoral indices was in telecommunications (14.4%), transport (10.6%) and construction (10.1%) sectors. The smallest decline over the month was in chemical production (5.8%) and the oil and gas sector (6.3%). The most significant market reaction was observed in the construction industry - over the period from July 26 to July 31, the index of construction companies fell by 6.6% (in the first half of June - by 3.8%). The reason for the accelerated decline was the revision of expectations for demand for mortgages due to the growth of market rates in addition to the end of the preferential subsidy program from July 1.