Russian stocks go up thanks to rising oil, Gref’s statements

MOSCOW, Dec 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market ended the main trading session on Friday with upward dynamics on rising oil prices, dividends expectations and Sberbank’s outlook for strong financial results, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.62% to 3,092.58 and the RTS Index increased 0.54% to 1,057.58.

“The Russian stock market is up as it is positively impacted by rising oil prices. News about dividends, including Sberbank management's forecast of record high dividends for 2023, also boosted the activity of tired bulls,” Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said.

According to Milchakova, the price of Brent oil rose 1.1% to U.S. $80.25 a barrel on positive news from China, where authorities expect strong macroeconomic results next year.

Otkritie Research leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said that Sberbank shares helped the MOEX Russia Index to rise to the level of 3,100 on quite expected news about dividends.

According to Kochetkov, the bank was the main contributor to the optimism of the market as CEO German Gref said today that Sberbank plans to increase profit every year, besides his confirmation of record high dividends for 2023.

The leaders of growth on the stock market were Cian’s depository receipts with a 4.37% increase. The movement was due to the published statistics on the growth of the price for a square meter of housing in Russia by 12% on average, Milchakova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.02	270.55	14.848
Mechel	+3.04	310.9	6.832
UWC	-0.86	45.9	6.278
Lukoil	+0.55	6739	3.275
Gazprom	+0.41	162.33	2.227

(91.7062 rubles – U.S. $1)

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