Russian stocks edge up at closing on oil price rise

MOSCOW, Aug 24 (PRIME) – The Russian stock market edged up at on Tuesday as the price for oil, the backbone of the local economy, rose, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 0.15% to 3,888.87 and the RTS increased by 0.66% to 1,660.90.

“Optimism on the Russian market has weakened a bit because of a weak correction in some securities in the financial and oil and gas sectors,” Vladimir Solovyov of Promsvyazbank explained.

“The market jitters ahead of Friday's Fed meeting persists, that is why investors rebalance their portfolios.”

But Dmitry Babin, analyst at BCS Financial Group, said that most investors remain optimistic, hoping for extension of the Fed's monetary stimulus, or a very slow winding down of these programs.

The metals and mining securities gained on rising international coal prices.

“We see improvement on the global coal market. Mechel includes coal mining and processing companies,” Vitaly Manzhos of Algo Capital investment company said.

Solovyov said that Mechel rose on expectations of a strong financial report and dividends.

“The news background for the domestic market has noticeably improved. Goldman Sachs believes that oil is oversold meaning the prices will recover,” Alexander Osin, analyst of Freedom Finance, said.

Below are the MOEX Russia Index’ five most active stocks on Tuesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	0,1	298	14.226
Sberbank	-1,64	323,81	11.136
Norilsk Nickel	0,79	24 046	4.133
Lukoil	-0,03	6 473,5	3.913
Rosneft	0	544,85	2.848

(73.7675 rubles – U.S. $1)

End