Russian stocks advance as ruble, oil strengthen

MOSCOW, Jun 2 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks rose on Tuesday following the ruble and oil strengthening, and still supported by the World Bank’s improved forecast of the Russian gross domestic product’s (GDP) fall in 2015, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.64% to 1,643.41 and the RTS increased 2.05% to 973.45.

“The rebound of oil quotations to the level of U.S. $65 per barrel has created positive background for the Russian market. Oil prices rose today in anticipation of publication of data about (oil) reserves (dynamics) tomorrow, and also on the back of the euro strengthening,” Vasily Tanurkov, analyst at Veles Capital, said.

Timur Nigmatullin, analyst at Finam, said that along with the oil prices increase there is a significant increase of oil output.

The MICEX was still supported by World Bank’s improved forecast of the Russian GDP fall in 2015, published on Monday. The dollar-denominated RTS was supported by the national currency rise, Nigmatullin said. According to the World Bank’s forecast, the decrease the GDP will stand at 2.7% against an earlier expected 3.8% fall.

Due to the lack of significant corporate news investors followed the ruble strengthening against the U.S. dollar, Anton Kravchenko, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Power utility Lenenergo rose 7.24% to 2.445 rubles after the Russian Grids approved a 4.2 billion ruble aid to the utility.

Dorogobuzh, whose net profit rose almost threefold on the year to 2.199 billion rubles in January–March, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), increased 5.41% to 19.5 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.75	73.92	5.525
Gazprom	+0.97	140.75	5.076
Lukoil	+2.76	2515.00	2.799
Norilsk Nickel	+3.40	9619.00	2.474
VTB	-0.17	0.08021	1.530

(52.8213 rubles – U.S. $1)

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