Gold producers’ shares, high oil price cap support Russian stocks

MOSCOW, Nov 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Wednesday as some shares supported the national market, while the suggested price cap on Russian oil is too high to make a serious impact on the national oil exports, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.72% to 2,211.89 and the RTS increased 0.42% to 1,147.43.

“The Russian stock market switched into the green zone after receiving support from a rebound of some shares and stabilization of the foreign investor mood,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Kozhukhova said that the shares of gold companies were among the gain leaders as they priced in Tuesday’s news about record exports of Russian gold to China in October. Polyus grew by 5.59% to 7,118.50 rubles, Polymetal International by 3.35% to 342.50 rubles, and Seligdar by 2.34% to 44.21 rubles.

The foreign bourses were cautious prior to the releases of minutes of the Federal Reserve System’s meeting and important U.S. macroeconomic data, while the metals, oil and gas, and hi-tech companies supported the MOEX Russia Index, she said.

“The E.U. is discussing a price cap for the Russian oil at U.S. $60–70 per barrel, which would not create any problems for Russia’s oil exports even if Russia respects it,” Finam analyst Alexei Kalachyov said.

“Expectations of a heavy ban on Russian oil weakened, which may lead to further purchases of the energy shares, which offerhigh dividend yields,” Promsvyazbank senior analyst Vladimir Lyashchuk said.

Kalachyov also said that the securities of TCS Group fell by 2.39% to 2,731.50 rubles after the company reported a 64.3% contraction of the net profit in July–September.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.90	136.87	6.649
Polyus	+5.59	7118.50	6.389
Gazprom	+0.55	169.00	2.869
Lukoil	+1.21	4674.00	2.655
TCS Group GDRs	-2.39	2731.50	1.750

(60.6566 rubles – U.S. $1)

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