Russian stocks grow as investors want protection from inflation

MOSCOW, Mar 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Thursday as investors rushed to save their ruble assets from devaluation amid high inflation and uncertainty about the fate of the ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 7.58% to 2,703.51, and the RTS index increased by 7.59% to 1,021.28.

"The Russian market increased again. This was partially due to reassessment of corporate risks. The shares of companies that at least are not facing big problems, if not winning from the current situation, were the leaders," Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Research, said.

Dmitry Babin, stock market expert at BCS World of Investment, explained market growth by deferred demand for ruble assets, as investors wanted to protect themselves from high inflation and further ruble devaluation.

Gazprom soared on the news that Russia does not demand an immediate transition to ruble payments, Kochetkov said. The Russian president put forward several scenarios of the transition during the negotiations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and promised a discussion with experts.

Kochetkov said that this means that the worst scenario will not materialize, and Gazprom will continue to work as usual, albeit testing a possible stop of supplies.

The U.S. eased sanctions on Russian fertilizers by putting them on the list of essential goods together with food and pharmaceuticals, which, according to Kochetkov. However, PhosAgro and Acron priced it in earlier.

The oil prices fell on the news that the U.S. will continue sales from its strategic reserves, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+12.36	242.69	19.751
Sberbank	+6.75	143.69	16.593
Yandex class A	+4.81	2257.6	3.738
VTB	+15.42	0.0198	3.420
Rosneft	+13.07	437.6	3.182

(84.0851 rubles – U.S. $1)  

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