Russian stocks edge up on high oil prices, favorable local mood

MOSCOW, Aug 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed higher on Thursday due to oil prices consolidation near 3-month highs and a positive corporate background, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.76% to 1,973.50 and the RTS rose 0.48% to 1,049.96.

“The Russian stock market traded slightly higher pricing in yesterday’s crude futures growth and positive corporate stories,” Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

Brent is trading above $52 per barrel following the release of the U.S. Department of Energy’s statistics demonstrating a new decline in oil inventories.

Kirsanova also said the MICEX was supported by the country’s biggest lender Sberbank, which surged 2.57% to 179.8 rubles in the wake of a sound financial results report, and oil company Bashneft, which grew 4.47% to 2,314 rubles on the news that it is to receive 136 billion rubles from multi-industry holding Sistema under a court decision.

Bashneft’s current owner state-run oil company Rosneft filed its suit against Sistema in May to recover a loss stemming from an alleged asset stripping at Bashneft in 2009–2014 by Sistema.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that truck maker Kamaz added 2.79% to 53.45 rubles after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed an order to allocate 530 million rubles to produce trucks for the UNO food program.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.57%	179.8	14.044
Gazprom	+0.7%	116.56	2.159
Norilsk Nickel	+0.99%	9220	1.968
Magnit	+0.7%	9812	1.373
Lukoil	+0.02%	2894	922

(59.1312 rubles – U.S. $1)

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