Positive environment, high oil prices push Russian stocks up

MOSCOW, Nov 1 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Wednesday supported by rising foreign floors and high oil prices, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.89% to 2,082.73 and the RTS increased 1.17% to 1,126.43.

“The MICEX grew today following all the world’s indices. They rose mainly on expectations of an upcoming nomination of a new head of the U.S. Federal Reserve System. Preliminary data show that Jerome Powell, who supports a much softer stance of the monetary policy than John Taylor, leads,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

An unchanged Russian weekly consumer price index also supported the local indices, because investors believe that it underpins central bank’s soft approach to the key rate. “And, of course, Russian indices could not have ignored the dynamics of oil prices,” Rogova said.

The Brent oil price rose 0.36% to U.S. $61.16 per barrel as of 6.12 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“The growth of the local market was made possible by a continuous improvement of the mood on the oil market. Still, we don’t see a buying frenzy. Selective demand in some shares signals that local trade participants fear a possible worsening of the external and internal news flow,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that prices for other commodities also increased supporting the local market. Norilsk Nickel was the gain leader rising 4.32% to 11,050 rubles thanks to a more than 2% increase in prices for copper and an almost 5% increase in prices for nickel.

Prices for other industrial metals rose on hopes for a new Silk Road project and on rising demand from producers of electric cars. Shares of steelmakers Severstal and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) and of aluminum giant UC RUSAL rose 1.38% to 910.70 rubles, 0.62% to 134.03 rubles, and 2.89% to 38.80 rubles, Kochetkov said.

Manzhos also said that shares of national air carrier Aeroflot lost 8.39% to 164.90 rubles because they are still under pressure from unimpressive financial results. On Tuesday, the company said that its net profit calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) plunged about 41% on the year in January–September.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.13	194.05	7.883
Aeroflot	-8.39	164.90	4.598
Norilsk Nickel	+4.32	11050.00	4.549
Magnit	-1.08	7610.00	2.441
Gazprom	+0.48	126.50	2.304

(58.1179 rubles – U.S. $1)

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