Russian stock market rises on positive corporate stories

MOSCOW, Mar 17 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with a significant increase on Friday amid supportive global background and pleasant corporate news, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 2.86% to 2,322.78 and the RTS increased 2.34% to 948.97.

“The positive external background and consistently good corporate news supported the investors,” senior trader at managing company Alfa-Capital Vladislav Silayev said.

According to Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova, the situation on global markets is gradually calming down as the Federal Reserve System (Feds) announced its readiness to provide liquidity to banks that meet certain requirements, and the Swiss National Bank announced its intention to support Credit Suisse.

The decision of the Russian central bank to keep the key rate at 7.5% was expected and also provided the market with some optimism, the analyst said. In case of the rate increase, the market would have perceived it as a signal that accelerated inflation has not been contained yet, she added.

The leaders of growth were preferred and common shares of Sberbank on the back of the board’s dividends recommendation at 25 rubles per share, which is 34% higher than dividends for 2020, Milchakova.

Transneft's preferred shares also rose in price probably on expectations of strong financial results for 2022.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+9.09	191.4	67.921
Sberbank (preferred shares)	+9.76	190.99	6.418
Gazprom	+2.11	163.08	6.204
Lukoil	+0.99	4124.5	3.549
Novatek	+1.39	1078.8	3.068

(76.4095 rubles – U.S. $1)

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