Oil price above $31 per bbl pushes Russian stocks up

MOSCOW, Feb 12 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Friday as the Brent oil price was able to hold above U.S. $31 per barrel and helped the local market to gain momentum, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.84% to 1,726.04 and the RTS increased 2.76% to 689.90.

“Investors improved their mood for purchases on the background of gradually rising oil price, which has closed in the green zone for the third day in a row despite of record intra-day volatility…today it was supported by words of OPEC countries’ representatives,” Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

The Brent oil price jumped 4.023% to $31.32 per barrel as of 6.17 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

The increase of oil prices was connected with the news that Venezuela offered leading oil exporting countries to freeze production levels, and some of these countries were positive toward the suggestion, Alexander Kostyukov, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said.

“Mass media were overflowed with the news that Arab sheikhs favored the idea of joint actions at the market to support oil prices. No one presented direct quotations, but the idea alone was enough for the oil’s rapid rebound,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Shares of oil company Bashneft outperformed the market and grew 3.83% to 2,170 rubles. Reuters reported citing sources that the Russian government is studying options to privatize more than 50% in the company from the 75% state-owned stake or to limit the sale to 25% through a stock market offering, and that oil major Lukoil was interested in buying a stake in Bashneft, Kostyukov said.

Shares of independent gas producer Novatek and oil major Rosneft grew 2.18% to 610 rubles and 2.21% to 270.70 rubles, respectively. Besides the increase of oil prices, they were also supported by reports of some media that the Russian government plans to prepare suggestions for exports of natural gas of independent gas producers via the Sila Sibiri pipeline through a single export channel, Kirsanova said.

Metals companies looked weaker than the market due to the fact that the E.U. imposed a 19.8–26.2% duty on imports of Russian cold rolled steel. It is a long-term negative factor for the whole sector as it is significantly oriented on exports, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Steelmakers Severstal and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) lost 0.89% to 658 rubles and 1.35% to 19.05 rubles, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.69	94.85	7.535
Gazprom	+0.62	131.30	3.554
Lukoil	+0.17	2396.00	2.250
Magnit	-1.41	10000.00	2.152
Surgutneftegas prefs	+1.36	43.20	1.614

(79.1144 rubles – U.S. $1)

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