Russian stocks erase losses on increase of foreign markets

MOSCOW, Apr 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Tuesday following the foreign markets, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.58% to 2,559.84, and the RTS Index increased 0.68% to 1,255.45.

“On Tuesday, the Russian stock market managed to regain the losses of a day ago and surge above 2,550. The reason was the Western stock markets. In Europe in the afternoon, the key indices added up to 0.7%, in the U.S., the Dow Jones and the S&P500 grew by 0.1% in the first hours of trade,” senior analyst at Promsvyazbank Bogdan Zvarich said.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said that oil “traded without much optimism” because market participants fear that a fight for a market share, which some Russian companies are insisting on will undermine continuation of the OPEC plus nonmember deal.

Zvarich said that in the afternoon Brent regained the positions after falling below U.S. $71 per barrel, and rose to the level of closing on Monday.

According to Kochetkov, Sberbank’s shares fell because investors were waiting for dividend news. “Even high payments cannot keep the security at the current level since the market tends to take profit after hearing the news. The supervisory board of Sberbank recommended paying 16 rubles per share which meets market expectations but does not satisfy the dreams of the optimists.”

Oil companies were the market leaders on the back of improvement of the oil price forecasts for April–June, the analyst said but Rosneft lost most of the gains after announcing disappointing recommendation for dividends in 2018, Kochetkov said.

Metals companies grew on expectations for incentives in China and a nearing trade agreement between China and the U.S.

Vitaly Manzhos, senior risk manager at investment company Algo Capital, said that Magnit has hit a low since the end of 2018 after a buyback program ended. The shares fell 0.11% to 3,496 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.92	233.24	20.299
Gazprom	+2.47	162.24	4.383
Lukoil	+0.35	5609.5	4.112
Rosneft	+1.46	435.15	2.241
Norilsk Nickel	+1.15	14558	2.104

(64.2469 rubles – U.S. $1)

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