Russian stocks grow as US–China talks resume

MOSCOW, Jul 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Tuesday on the back of a restart of the U.S.–China trade negotiations, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.63% to 2,701.06, and the RTS Index increased 0.32% to 1,345.48.

“On Tuesday, July 23, purchases dominated on the Russian stock market thanks to universal optimism,” Sofya Kirsanova, senior analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital, said. “Today’s investor optimism was, first of all, caused by an official resumption of trade negotiations between the U.S. and China.”

The news about preparations for a visit of a U.S. delegation to Beijing next week sparked optimism on markets worldwide. China is to make trade-offs in response to an earlier exemption from duties of some electronic components and medical equipment, and a permit for U.S. companies to continue selling Huawei products, Kirsanova said.

According to Kirsanova, expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) will reduce the rate next week and that its monetary policy – or at least the rhetoric – will ease supported the positive market mood.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that Rosneft rallied after President Vladimir Putin asked the company to submit justifications for state incentives for development of the Priobskoye field.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.92	232.48	8.399
Gazprom	+0.12	217.39	7.596
Surgutneftegas pref	+0.26	31.28	2.394
Rosneft	+1.8	428	1.551
Lukoil	+0.72	5202.5	1.551

(62.9776 rubles – U.S. $1)

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