Russian stocks edge up thanks to dividend news, pause in sanctions

MOSCOW, May 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks increased on Wednesday on the back of dividend and industrial news and a pause in the introduction of new sanctions, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 0.87% to 2,445.30, and the RTS index increased by 0.98% to 1,212.57.

“The Russian stock market remained in positive territory by the end of the session having received support from a lack of agreement on the six package of the E.U.’s sanctions against Russia and from dividend news, but still stepped down from intra-day maximums,” Veles Capital’s analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

Sentiment on the U.S. and European stock floors was negative with the main indices falling within 1.6–2% and 1%, respectively.

Bogdan Zvarich, senior analyst at financial supermarket Banki.ru, said that the ruble continued to receive support from the exporters in the form of high supply of foreign currency on the market.

Brent was decreasing during the day and finished 1.24% lower at U.S. $110.59 per barrel, which may be attributed to the E.U.’ plans to get rid of Russia’s energy resources by 2027 and replace them with renewable energy, Freedom Finance analysts said.

Mobile operator MTS and multi-industry holding AFK Sistema, which holds 49.94% in MTS, grew by 11.72% and 8.3%, respectively, on a decision of the operator’s board of directors to pay 33.85 rubles per share in dividends for 2021, according to Freedom Finance analysts.

Yegor Zhilnikov, senior analyst at Promsvyazbank, attributed the rise of real estate developers PIK and Samolet by 7.31% and 1.87%, respectively, to the news that the government increased the maximum size of preferential mortgage to 30 million rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+2.33	264.84	13.621
Sberbank	-2.06	125.12	7.149
MTS	+11.72	243	3.069
Sistema	+8.3	13371	1.586
PIK	+7.31	598.9	1.282

(63.5428 rubles – U.S. $1)

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