Russian stocks edge up on weak US statistics, oil price rise

MOSCOW, Jul 14 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks firmed on Thursday due to weak U.S. macro-statistics, which may prevent the Federal Reserve System’s (Fed) from increasing the rate soon, while the oil price rebounded after the six world powers and Iran clinched a nuclear deal, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.25% to 1,647.01 and the RTS increased 0.47% to 919.79.

“Not everything was good today from the point of macro-economic statistics. U.S. June retail sales fell 0.3% despite an expected growth of 0.2%, and the figure for May was revised to a 1% growth from a 1.2% increase,” Igor Kovalyov, analyst at InstaForex, said.

“Market participants are laying less and less hope on an upcoming Fed rate increase. Another negative indicator may significantly undermine the future of the U.S. dollar.”

Oil rose after the Iranian nuclear deal was signed as players closed their short-term positions on it, Vasily Tanurkov, Veles Capital’s deputy CEO for stock market analysis, said.

After the sanctions are lifted, the country may rapidly double its oil supplies from the current 1 billion barrels per day and will try to regain its share on the market.

“But technical increase of Iranian oil supplies to the world market will happen only within several months rather than in one fell swoop. Moreover, the coming into force of the Iranian nuclear program’s agreement may be delayed by up to 90 days. This is why the news is of a clear negative factor for the Russian market, but not fatal,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Oil major Lukoil decreased 0.56% to 2,421.90 rubles due to a dividend cut-off.

Common and preferred shares of oil company Tatneft also performed worse than the market and lost 0.14% to 294.65 rubles and 4.57% to 154.6 rubles, respectively, after a dividend cut-off.

Fertilizer maker Acron outperformed the market and increased 6.73% to 2,600 rubles in reaction to international rating agency Fitch boost of the company’s long-term issuer default rating to BB- with a stable outlook.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.32	73.90	8.068
Gazprom	+0.85	146.50	3.912
Surgutneftegas prefs	-2.06	38.59	3.110
Lukoil	-0.56	2421.90	2.517
Norilsk Nickel	+0.90	9450.00	1.986

(56.6079 rubles – U.S. $1)

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