Russian stocks grow as US market closed for Thanksgiving Day

MOSCOW, Nov 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Thursday due to a calm foreign background, as the U.S. market was closed for Thanksgiving Day, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.49% to 2,369.53, and the RTS index increased 0.97% to 1,138.38.

“The Russian market saw an absolutely quiet Thursday, yet it was much worse on foreign floors. It was a holiday in the U.S., which caused a significant decrease of activity… Nevertheless, the calm turned out to be beneficial for the domestic investors who preferred buying to selling,” Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Alor Broker analysts said that information that U.S. sanctions against Russia will not be introduced earlier than in March–April 2019 is still beneficial for the Russian market. A strong ruble is another positive factor.

The European markets fell on the back of Italian budget risks, as well as the futures for U.S. stocks. The oil prices decreased and, according to Vasily Oleinik, investment company Finam analyst, are likely to set record lows soon because participants of the OPEC plus nonmember agreement are unlikely to reduce quotas at the next meeting in December.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.96	199.4	9.859
Lukoil	+0.28	4813.5	2.087
Gazprom	+0.99	153.91	1.779
Norilsk Nickel	+0.47	11876	1.249
Rosneft	-0.18	411.1	1.048

(65.9485 rubles – U.S. $1)

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