Russian stocks close mixed on ruble fall, oil prices

MOSCOW, Nov 5 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Thursday as prices for oil, the backbone of the country’s economy, and the ruble fell, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 015% to 1,766.28 and the RTS decreased 1.03% to 877.26.

“In spite of the negative background with contracting oil prices on Wednesday, the Russian market has managed to demonstrate positive dynamics since the beginning of the day…but the RTS index contracted due to the falling ruble,” Bogdan Zvarich, an analyst at investment company Finam, said.

The financial sector contributed significantly to the MICEX index growth, supported by a rally in shares of biggest bank Sberbank, which grew 0.10% on Thursday and about 6% since November 1. Second biggest bank VTB rose 2.96% on Thursday and more than 5% since November 1, Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at investment company Raiffeisen Capital, said.

“There are no obvious reasons for the growth of these securities, the activity here is most likely created by a liquidity flow to blue chips, where Sberbank and VTB are the only representatives of the financial sector,” Kirsanova said.

Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said that the growth of the MICEX index looks stronger than one could have expected judging by the background. “Usually, such periods of independency of Russian shares do not last more than two to three days. A correctional fall of the MICEX index on Friday or on Monday (November 9) should not be ruled out,” he said.

Bank UralSib surged 153.23% on the news that Russia’s Deposit Insurance Agency appointed businessman Vladimir Kogan to bail it out and to acquire an at least 75% stake in it.

Shares of meat producer Cherkizovo Group again outperformed the market and gained 3.21% as investors reacted to Spain’s largest agricultural holding Grupo Corporativo Fuertes raising its stake in the company to 5.06% from 2.03%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.10	95.50	12.206
Gazprom	-0.55	140.97	5.213
Lukoil	+0.23	2489.60	4.309
Norilsk Nickel	+0.36	9580.00	1.704
Magnit	+0.38	11468.00	1.693

(63.8525 rubles – U.S. $1)

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