Russian stocks close mixed as oil price supports ruble’s rate

MOSCOW, Sep 15 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Thursday as dynamics of the oil price supported the ruble’s exchange rate and the RTS index, but local news flow prevented the MICEX index from rising, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.39% to 1,996.58 and the RTS edged up 0.04% to 970.93.

The Brent oil price increased 2.03% to U.S. $46.80 per barrel as of 67.05 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

“Oil remains the main trade idea,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

The ruble’s exchange rate began the day in the red zone, but was later able to compensate for losses due to an upcoming tax period, activity of banks in purchases of OFZ federal bonds and their participation in the central bank’s deposit auction, Kochetkov said.

The improvement of the ruble’s rate supported the RTS index, but local news flow provided a negative impact on the energy sector. “According to offers of the Finance Ministry, the government plans to raise budget revenue by 640 billion rubles next year due to an increase of taxes, including taxes on oil companies and Gazprom,” Timur Nigmatullin, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

Shares of steelmaker Severstal lost 4.98% to 730.40 rubles due to a dividend cut-off, Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Dixy Group fell 2.98% to 325.50 rubles as investors were still reacting to the company’s weak operating performance, Manzhos said.

Mobile operator MTS contracted 2.27% to 230.20 rubles after media reported that Scandinavian holding TeliaSonera may pay up to U.S. $1.4 billion in fines under a bribery case in Uzbekistan, Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.14	149.14	6.732
Gazprom	-1.26	137.60	3.324
Lukoil	+0.10	3057.00	1.916
Norilsk Nickel	-0.27	9520.00	1.887
Surgutneftegas prefs	-2.79	30.14	1.738

(64.9737 rubles – U.S. $1)

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