Russian stocks close mixed on high oil prices, falling ruble

MOSCOW, Nov 3 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Friday as a favorable external news flow and high oil prices supported the MICEX index, while a weakening ruble undermined the RTS index, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.39% to 2,081.15 and the RTS decreased 0.83% to 1,109.38.

“The MICEX has received support since the very morning. Yesterday information was confirmed that Jerome Powell will become the new chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve System after Janet Yellen, and that he is likely to adhere to the current monetary policy of a gradual rate increase. Besides that, oil prices added some momentum, even if they were only trying to return to recently achieved highs,” Irina Rogova, an analyst at Forex Club group of companies, said.

The Brent oil price rose 0.378% to U.S. $60.85 per barrel as of 6.14 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said that the RTS looked weaker than the MICEX index because the ruble had lost against the U.S. dollar despite growth of oil prices.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that the fall of the ruble supported shares of some exporters. Gas giant Gazprom grew 0.18% to 125.90 rubles, oil company Lukoil rose 0.59% to 3,168.50 rubles, metals giant Norilsk Nickel rose 1.77% to 11,551 rubles, and steelmaker Severstal rose 0.34% to 902.30 rubles.

Kirsanova said that hydropower giant RusHydro rose 2.36% to 70.12 rubles likely due to the news that the Russian government increased subsidies for power consumers in the Far East to 35 billion rubles from 24 billion rubles, and RusHydro’s subsidiary RAO UES will receive part of the money.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Norilsk Nickel	+1.77	11551.00	5.981
Sberbank	-0.03	193.80	5.949
Gazprom	+0.18	125.90	2.860
Magnit	+0.27	7390.00	2.611
Lukoil	+0.59	3168.50	2.015

(58.0869 rubles – U.S. $1)

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