Higher oil prices support growth of Russian stocks

MOSCOW, Oct 4 (PRIME) -- The increase of oil prices, which was caused by the OPEC plus alliance’s decision to maintain their oil output increase plans, supported the Russian market on Monday, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index edged up by 0.63% to 4,112.72 and the RTS increased by 0.80% to 1,785.75.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS index never stopped their attempts to grow, and the ruble index even updated its historic maximum of 4,217 on support mainly from the gas and financial shares,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

At the same time, the background was mixed as the European stock indices and the U.S. market fell mainly due to the uncertainty around the situation with Chinese developer Evergrande, while the oil prices supported the Russian market rising by around 3%, she said.

Alexandra Ovchinnikova, analyst of Sber Asset Management, said that the MOEX Russia Index set a new all-time high of 4,131.39 on support of prices for hydrocarbons.

“The MOEX Russia Index may try to climb to new highs on Tuesday if the market appetite for the assets of the emerging countries stays, but the investor mood may be spoiled by new worries about the coronavirus and tensions between China and the U.S.,” Ovchinnikova said.

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investment, said that higher oil prices and the decision of the OPEC plus to maintain its plans to increase of oil production in November strengthened concerns about speedier inflation and quicker suspension of the monetary stimuli by central banks of different countries. This caused many stock markets to fall, he said.

Oil companies Gazprom Neft and Lukoil and of gas giant Gazprom set their new record highs and ended the day with increases of 4.11%, 1.80%, and 2.13%, respectively.

Kozhukhova also said that ordinary and preferred shares of metals and mining group Mechel gained 4.26% and 7.68%, respectively, following high prices for coal and expectations of improvement of the company’s financial condition.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+2.13	371.00	29.834
Rosneft	+1.87	630.00	25.612
Sberbank	+2.22	346.00	19.442
Lukoil	+1.80	7113.00	10.561
Norilsk Nickel	-2.17	21642.00	4.240

(72.9215 rubles – U.S. $1)

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