Russian stocks close mixed on high oil price, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Sep 7 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Thursday as relatively high oil prices pushed the ruble higher supporting the dollar-denominated RTS index but hurt shares of exporters, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.22% to 2,010.17 and the RTS increased 0.36% to 1,110.73.

“It was difficult for the Russian indices to grow. The geopolitical tensions are still there. We should not forget about the recent strengthening of the ruble, which does not favor Russian exporters. But there is good news, and it includes higher oil prices,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

The Brent oil price rose 0.258% to U.S. $54.34 per barrel as of 6.06 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE Exchange.

Bogdan Zvarich, a senior analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, said that the local market was also supported by the European floors which grew about 0.7%. “But the U.S. indices Dow Jones and S&P500 lost 0.2% and 0.1% after the first few hours of trade, which supported Russian bears and pushed the MICEX index down by the closing bell,” he said.

Daniil Yegorov, head of the trade strategies department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank SA, also said that a strengthening ruble had a positive impact on the RTS index, but resulted in contraction of shares of metals exporting companies and restrained the MICEX index growth.

Metals giant Norilsk Nickel lost 1.68% to 9,660 rubles, while steelmakers Severstal and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) fell 0.73% to 905 rubles and 2.87% to 128.70 rubles, respectively.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the oil price above $54 per barrel and promising energy projects in Russia’s Far East pushed shares of some oil and gas companies higher.

Oil major Rosneft rose 0.99% to 306 rubles and independent gas producer Novatek gained 0.03% to 600 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.48	184.00	8.420
Gazprom	+0.69	117.95	4.389
Norilsk Nickel	-1.68	9660.00	2.234
Lukoil	-1.47	2876.00	1.607
MMK	+3.45	42.30	1.400

(57.3387 rubles – U.S. $1)

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