Quotations for Gazprom shares more than doubled Friday to an average 750 rubles (24 cents) from 300, prompting a steep 20.96-point rise in The Moscow Times Index of 30 leading Russian stocks. On Monday, the stock shed 150 rubles from Friday's gain, according to the Skate Press Consulting Agency, which compiles the MT-Index.
"It's a normal game, a normal process," said Skate Press analyst Dmitry Zinkevich, explaining that brokers were testing the market to find a price for the stock after it underwent a 100-way split last month. The split, approved by the State Property Committee on Sept. 22, reduced the face value of one Gazprom share from 1,000 to 10 rubles.
Zinkevich predicted further sharp fluctuations in Gazprom shares and the index in the short term. Gazprom's immense market capitalization -- more than 14 trillion rubles ($4.5 billion) as of Monday -- gives it more influence on the capitalization-weighted MT-Index than any other stock.
Analysts said that wild fluctuations in Russian stock quotations are to be expected, as the prices are based on brokers' bids and offers rather than on actual trades.
"You can't really talk about real prices; you can only talk about buy and sell prices, so there are pretty sharp fluctuations," said Firuz Mansurkohodzhayev, head of the stock department at Grant Financial Services. "One offer may be twice as much as another offer."
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