Russian stock edge up on oil price near 3-mo high, positive mood

MOSCOW, Mar 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market declined in the first part of the day on Wednesday, but managed to reverse to the positive territory later in the day thanks to rising crude prices and positivity in Europe and the U.S., analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.10% to 2,470.61 and the RTS rose 0.49% to 1,189.14.

“The MOEX Russia Index tried to reach the lower limit of the 2,450–2,500 range in the first half of the session amid an uncertain external environment… But the global market situation improved by the end of the day helping the benchmark recoup most of the intraday losses thanks to rising crude prices and a strengthening ruble,” Promsvyazbank analyst Yevgeny Loktyukhov said.

The Russian market was supported by positivity in Europe and the U.S. and the Brent crude adding around 1–2% to almost reach a 3-month high of U.S. $67.73 per barrel. 

Veles Capital analysts said that metals giant Norilsk Nickel was among the biggest losers falling 3.69% to 13,850 rubles on the news that Crispian Investments owned by businessman Roman Abramovich had opened a bidding book for a secondary public offering (SPO) of a 1.7% stake in the company with an offering price of 13,450 rubles per security which implied a 6.5% discount to the market price.

Analyst at Freedom Finance Anastasia Sosnova said that steelmaker Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) grew 2.19% to 166.90 rubles after it had released a plan to boost steel production by 1 million tonne to 14.2 million tonnes annually.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Norilsk Nickel	-3.69	13850	19.051
Sberbank	+0.44	206	5.847
Lukoil	+0.59	5609	2.959
Gazprom	+1.09	153.3	2.823
ALROSA	+2.05	96.04	1.178

(65.7674 rubles – U.S. $1)

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