Fed’s decision, oil price surge push Russian stocks higher

MOSCOW, Mar 17 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Thursday supported by mild rhetoric from the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) and a hike in oil prices, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.05% to 1,890.79 and the RTS increased 4.53% to 873.80.

“Russian instruments have priced in Fed’s Wednesday decision on monetary policy. Janet Yellen said that the situation has changed and economy’s future is not as optimistic as it was seen in December…Of course, this softness exerted pressure on the U.S. dollar and allowed risky assets to grow,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

The price for Brent oil, which increased 1.945% to U.S. 41.13 per barrel as of 6.06 p.m. Moscow time, was another main reason for the growth of the Russian market. The market “reacted to the oil’s strength,” Yevgeny Loktyukhov, head of Promsvyazbank’s stock market research department, said.

“Expectations of improvements in our relations with Egypt together with the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria provided geopolitical support to Russian indices,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Oil and gas companies were market bellwethers thanks to the oil price growth, Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said. Oil majors Rosneft and Lukoil went up 2.71% and 1.74% to 309.40 rubles and 2,750 rubles, respectively, while gas giant Gazprom increased 1.74% to 147.27 rubles.

Mobile operator MegaFon lost 4.03% to 809 rubles after the company published its financial report for 2015 under International Financial Reporting Standards. Though the company’s net profit grew 6.3% on the year to 39.041 billion rubles, its consolidated revenue remained flat, and it may have displeased investors, Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Thursday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.31	109.47	10.123
Gazprom	+1.74	147.27	6.908
Lukoil	+1.74	2750.00	4.658
Norilsk Nickel	+1.36	9243.00	2.709
Rosneft	+2.71	309.40	2.683

(71.0256 rubles – U.S. $1)

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