Russian stocks edge up on domestic corporate reports

MOSCOW, May 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew slightly on Friday thanks to support of a strong performance of national companies, while international trade conflicts were of less significance to the local market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.22% to 2,665.33 and the RTS increased 0.04% to 1,287.09.

“The losses of the Russian market were relatively moderate in spite of an unfavorable external background, in particular, a strong oil price decline, and the national stocks significantly surged from daily lows as soon as the external background stabilized and global markets started showing signs of correctional restoration in the middle of our trading session,” Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS Broker, said.

Russia is resilient against the external negative influence thanks to remoteness from the trade conflicts, to a safety buffer of its financial and economic system, and to recent robust corporate news and reports from national companies, he said.

Freedom Finance’s analyst Anastasia Sosnova said: “The external background is negative, and there is an interest to non-risky assets as the gold price climbed above U.S. $1,300 per troy ounce. This happened after a piece of news came out that the U.S. plans to slap duties on all goods from Mexico as a way to fight illegal immigration. This, in its turn, strengthened concerns of the investment community about a slowdown of the economic growth, and it also led to outflow of capitals from risks,”

As a result, stock markets in Europe contracted by 1.6%, while emerging markets lost more than 1%, Sosnova said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said that national flagship carrier Aeroflot was one of the leaders today, soaring 3.74% due to a strong financial report for January–March that the company released on Thursday. Despite the fact that the company’s net loss widened by 51% on the year, the report outperformed expectations of market analysts, and the company even kept its dividend policy of paying 50% of a net profit in dividends, she said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.21	233.24	12.379
Gazprom	+0.94	215.1	9.311
Lukoil	+0.74	5268.5	4.598
Norilsk Nickel	+0.13	13718	1.999
Rosneft	-1.37	433	1.889

(65.0583 rubles – U.S. $1)

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