Russian stocks close mixed as ruble rate falls, oil price rises

MOSCOW, Jun 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Wednesday as the local market had no strong drivers except the fall of the ruble and a slight increase of oil prices, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.69% to 1,891.98 and the RTS decreased 0.10% to 1,002.83.

“We connect these dynamics of national stock market indicators with technical factors. The has U.S. dollar tried to balance close to a level of 59.5 rubles as oil prices stabilized and support of the tax payment period in Russia, while the euro tested 68 rubles,” Anastasia Sosnova, a leading analyst at Bank Rossiysky Capital, said.

Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said that strong purchases were restrained by the mostly negative external background and a slow increase of oil prices, while the RTS index contracted on the back of a weaker ruble.

“There were no significant ideas present at the market today except the potential weakening of the ruble. Correspondingly, the shares that are sensitive to the rate of the national currency registered an increase today,” Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Among these companies Kochetkov mentioned uncut diamond mining giant ALROSA, which rose 2.25% to 87.70 rubles, metals and mining group Mechel, which rose 1.40% to 137.90 rubles, oil major Lukoil, which added 2.66% to 2,874.50 rubles, silver and gold producer Polymetal, which gained 0.44% to 679 rubles, and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK), which increased 2.59% to 33.30 rubles.

Bank shares were among the losers also thanks to the ruble fall. Sberbank lost 1.09% to 145.50 rubles and Bank Saint Petersburg fell 2.09% to 56.35 rubles, he said.

Kovalyov also said that Russia’s second largest bank VTB gained 0.66% to 0.0638 rubles as it published good financial results earlier in the day. The net profit of the bank soared to 50.1 billion rubles in January–May from 1.8 billion rubles in the same period of 2016, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.09	145.50	6.696
Gazprom	+0.29	119.70	2.525
Lukoil	+2.66	2874.50	1.880
Magnit	-0.35	9471.00	1.368
Rosneft	+1.56	332.40	1.316

(58.8843 rubles – U.S. $1)

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