MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. The MOEX index was in the green during the first half of Friday. By the end of the day, the ruble indicator fell by 0.28% to 3,283.29 points, the dollar-denominated RTS index rose by 0.1% to 1,173.12 points.

The yuan-to-ruble rate fell to 12 rubles before the closure of trading session, according to Moscow Exchange data.

"The MOEX Index opened above 3,300 points on Friday and was approaching 3,320 points during the day, but buyers lost the initiative in the afternoon. Probably, the approaching weekend had an effect. During the day, the market ignored the ruble's switch to weakening. Oil prices continued to fluctuate around $75 per barrel of Brent. The news background did not bring any surprises," commented Alexander Shepelev, an expert on the stock market at BCS World of Investments.

As for the external background, the situation was calm. "There was no particular changes today on world markets either. Estimates of preliminary February business activity indices (PMI) in the manufacturing and services sectors of the Eurozone and the US did not differ significantly from forecasts," the expert added.

On Friday, the leaders of growth were shares of TMK (+6.32%), Raspadskaya (+6.14%), MMK (+3.64%), PIK (+3.24%), Novabev Group (+2.05%) and NLMK (+2.01%), as well as Severstal (+1.81%).

"TMK turned out to be the growth leaders on the stock market, apparently in anticipation of the publication of financial results for 2024 and information on dividends," says Natalya Milchakova, leading analyst at Freedom Finance Global.

The leaders of decline were shares of the Moscow Exchange (-2.24%), M.Video (-1.74%), Mosenergo (-1.7%), and Rusal (-1.49%).

According to BCS World of Investments’ expectations, on Monday, February 24, the MOEX index will be in the range of 3,210-3,360 points. "Short-term exchange rate expectations are 11.75-12.55 rubles per yuan, 86.5-91.5 rubles per dollar," the company noted.

According to Freedom Finance Global's expectations, on Monday the MOEX index will move in the range of 3,200-3,300 points, the dollar-to-ruble rate will vary between 87 and 89 rubles, the rates of euro and the yuan are expected to be 94 rubles and 12-12.5 rubles respectively.