Russian stocks edge up on favorable external environment

MOSCOW, Sep 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market advanced considerably on Wednesday thanks to encouraging news about the trade conflict between the U.S. and China and a new rally in oil and gas company Surgutneftegas, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.06% to 2,817.05 and the RTS rose 0.80% to 1,354.68.

“We saw sales attempts at the opening, but the Russian benchmarks rocketed upwards after that. The external background was moderately positive and gave no cues for such a steep growth of the local indices,” BCS Broker expert Dmitry Babin said.

The stable upwards dynamics persisted until the end of the trading session allowing the benchmarks to hit 1-month record highs. New positive statements by the sides of the trade dispute between the U.S. and China encouraged global market optimism, he added.

The domestic market was additionally supported by Surgutneftegas, which demonstrated a considerable growth of 7.17% to 36 rubles with no visible reasons.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that hydropower giant RusHydro and state-controlled telecom operator Rostelecom were among the biggest losers, falling 0.97% to 0.5424 rubles and 1.07% to 78.51 rubles, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.61	234.72	9.829
Gazprom	+0.89	235.07	6.350
Surgutneftegas	+7.17	36	4.579
Lukoil	+1.17	5540	3.856
Norilsk Nickel	+0.38	16004	3.055

(65.4393 rubles – U.S. $1)

End