Russian stocks close mixed amid rising oil, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Feb 14 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Tuesday amid oil prices consolidating above U.S. $56 per barrel and the ruble’s strengthening against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX decreased 0.92% to 2,141.50 and the RTS edged up 0.07% to 1,173.97.

The MICEX was under pressure of fears that the U.S. Federal Reserve System’s Chairwoman Janet Yellen will be quite optimistic about the U.S. economy during her speech at the Congress, which will allow the market to believe in three increases of the U.S. Fed rate this year, Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

Moreover, futures for global indices were mostly decreasing on Tuesday, she said.

Growth of the dollar-denominated RTS index was supported by the dollar’s depreciation against the ruble, analysts said.

Oil pipeline monopoly Transneft’s preferred shares grew 2.33% after the company said it plans to raise investment by 13% to 385.6 billion rubles in 2017.

Coal producers Raspadskaya and power producer Wholesale Generating Company-2 (WGC-2) were among growth leaders, having risen by 5.95% and 4.22%, respectively.

Construction company Mostotrest, uncut diamond giant ALROSA, and fertilizer producer PhosAgro were among outsiders, having fallen by 4.55%, 2.17%, and 1.98%, respectively, Rogova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.21	162.70	8.877
Gazprom	-0.41	140.62	2.843
Rosneft	-2.41	369.85	2.051
ALROSA	-2.17	99.30	1.803
Lukoil	-0.88	3250.00	1.663

(58.0619 rubles – U.S. $1)

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