Russia MICEX stock index sets new record high as oil price rises

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Monday and the MIXEC index set its new record high supported by growing oil prices which tried to break through a U.S. $55 per barrel mark, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.38% to 2,158.33 and the RTS increased 1.80% to 1,069.10.

“Today the Russian stock market continued its upwards trend. Once again bulls were supported by the situation on the energy market, where Brent oil is setting annual highs by climbing to a $55 per barrel level,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that trade participants could not ignore the fact that the Brent oil futures broke through a $55 milestone returning to the summer 2015 level. “We should add that the major European stock floors and the U.S. stock index futures also showed a significant increase,” Manzhos said.

Andrei Kochektov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the European stocks, including shares of European banks, increased after investors realized that possible risks from Italy’s referendum were significantly exaggerated, and pessimism only prevailed in shares of Italian banks. The Eurozone’s macro statistics was also positive, Kochetkov added.

Manzhos said that shares of state-owned oil major Rosneft grew 3.38% to 351.50 rubles on expectations of resolution regarding privatization of 19.5% of the government’s stake in the company, as under the government’s ruling the problem is to be solved today.

Shares of hydropower giant RusHydro rose 4.09% to 0.968 rubles as the company sold 100% in Power Supply Company of Bashkortostan to power holding Inter RAO for about 4.1 billion rubles, Manzhos said.

Shares of agricultural holding Razgulay Group jumped 22.86% to 7.04 rubles due to speculations connected with hopes that the company will somehow avoid bankruptcy, Manzhos added.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.64	162.02	9.139
Gazprom	+0.94	153.78	5.379
Rosneft	+3.38	351.50	2.582
Lukoil	+0.43	3300.00	2.519
Norilsk Nickel	+1.40	10830.00	1.394

(64.1528 rubles – U.S. $1)

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