Russian stocks close flat on oil price, ruble consolidation

MOSCOW, Jul 6 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed with marginal changes on Thursday because the ruble dynamics were quite stable and uncertainty about oil price growth was balanced by optimism from rising gross domestic product (GDP), analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.10% to 1,923.22 and the RTS increased 0.39% to 1,011.79.

“Russian stock market indices were demonstrating predominately neutral dynamics on Thursday, July 6, on the back of relative stability of oil quotations and the ruble,” Anastasia Sosnova, chief analyst at Bank Rossiysky Capital, said.

According to Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, the external background was predominantly negative and the Brent oil price growth seen during the day was “unconvincing” but acceleration of Russia’s GDP to 3.1% in May from 1.7% in April limited the negative impact by other factors.

The construction and retail sectors rose for the first time in 2017, which was noteworthy, he said.

Kovalyov said that the activity of investors was low on the back of expectations concerning a meeting between the Russian and U.S. presidents on Friday. Market participants keep on hoping that the meeting will be fruitful, he said.

Kovalyov said that Sistema fell moderately, by 0.99%, after the republic of Bashkortostan’s court maintained arrest of its assets and the technical authority found several thousand violations at a plant belonging to its former affiliate Bashneft.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.93	150.35	7.747
Gazprom	-0.02	122.68	3.089
Aeroflot	+5.39	215.25	2.568
Lukoil	+1.14	2985	2.113
Rosneft	-0.83	324.5	1.794

(59.5787 rubles – U.S. $1)

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