Russian stocks edge up waiting for US tax reform news

MOSCOW, Dec 1 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks edged up on Friday on a mixed external background as the oil price firmed, while investors were waiting for the news on the U.S. Senate tax reform vote, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.26% to 2,105.99 and the RTS increased 0.16% to 1,133.33.

“It is worth noting that the background was unusually mixed today. A slump at major European bourses and U.S. stock index futures was mixed with positive dynamics of futures for oil…The local market has not completely priced in predictable news on prolongation of the oil output limitation agreement in the OPEC+ format,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior risk manager at investment company Nord Capital, said.

Vasily Oleinik, an expert at investment company Finam, said that Russian stock indices remained close to zero during the day as investors were waiting for major news from the U.S. Senate vote on the country’s tax reform.

“It became known today that the voting…may fail or be delayed again. Yesterday four members of the Republican Party were against the reform, and today one more joined them after new calculations were disclosed…The voting is unlikely to be held today as five Republican senators are against it, and it may have no chance for approval if it is delayed, as the U.S. government will have to solve more serious (budget) issues in the next 7 days,” Oleinik said.

If the U.S. lawmakers fail to approve the tax reform in the coming week, its launch will be delayed till 2019, and the market “will definitely not like it,” as the approval of the reform has been repeatedly priced in by market players, Oleinik added.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that shares of oil giant Rosneft was under pressure to lose 0.54% to 292 rubles on concerns about the dividend level and on expectations of new U.S. sanctions.

Shares of power producer Enel Russia were the leaders today rising 12.52% to 1.537 rubles. Market players decided to price in improvements in the company’s forecasts and possible incomes from sales of the company’s assets, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.27	221.50	8.919
Gazprom	+0.66	133.02	3.283
Aeroflot	-2.85	148.15	2.252
Magnit	-0.30	6340.00	1.578
MMK	+0.68	44.23	1.565

(58.5814 rubles – U.S. $1)

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