Growing oil prices propel Russian stocks up after days of decline

MOSCOW, May 11 (PRIME) -- Oil prices increased and helped the Russian stock market to break the declining trend and grow Wednesday, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.24% to 1,909.05 and the RTS increased 3.33% to 927.00.

Prices grew after five days of downward correction even though the European floors traded in the red zone. “The oil price was again above the U.S. $45 per barrel mark…The oil quotes were supported by the news of unrest in Nigeria and Libya, which may end with a disruption of supplies of crude,” Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

The Brent oil price jumped 3% to $46.93 per barrel as of 5.53 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange. The oil market was supported by data of the EIA, which showed an unexpected contraction of the U.S. oil reserves by 0.6% to 540 million barrels in the week that ended on May 6.

“Today, the mood on the Russian stock market was positive, and the dynamics contradicted the external background which did not favor purchases. Domestic benchmarks were supported by oil, which again returned to the green zone,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex group of companies, said.

Top lender Sberbank grew 3.26% to 123.45 rubles thanks to the ruble growth. The bank also said that its net profit under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) nearly tripled on the year to 142.3 billion rubles in January–April, Kovalyov said.

The higher ruble also supported shares of companies that are focused on the domestic market, like the Moscow Exchange, which rose 3.15% to 106.04 rubles, Kirsanova said.

The oil price also helped Russian oil and gas companies to outperform the market. Oil major Lukoil increased 2.20% to 2,642.50 rubles, while common and preferred shares of oil company Surgutneftegas went up 2.97% to 33.98 rubles and 2.55% to 41.045 rubles, respectively, Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.26	123.45	10.424
Gazprom	+1.66	159.45	4.696
Lukoil	+2.20	2642.50	3.205
Magnit	-1.29	8921.00	1.877
Norilsk Nickel	+0.40	8850.00	1.753

(66.3277 rubles – U.S. $1)

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