Russian stocks grow as oil prices rise, US futures neutral

MOSCOW, Jan 31 (PRIME) -- The stock market increased on Monday on the back of oil price gains, although some growth was erased in the evening on the news about possible U.K. sanctions against the Russian oligarchs, analysts said.  

The MOEX Russia Index grew by 1.20% to 3,530.38, and the RTS index increased by 2.00% to 1,435.23.

"The Russian market priced in the idea of possible continuation of negotiations with the collective West, ignoring other threats from London. The U.K. decided to elaborate sanctions against the Russian businessmen and the key areas of the economy shortly," Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Research, said.  

According to Kochetkov, the rising oil price supported the Russian market. Oil pipeline operator OCP Equador announced a force majeure because of a spill and said that repairs were needed. The OPEC+ members are to hold an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, and is expected to raise production by 400,000 barrels per day.

Roman Blinov, senior analyst at Russ Invest, said that the morning rise faded by the middle of the day. The market was guided by an overall unclear dynamics of the futures for the opening of the U.S. stock market, which neither rose, nor fell.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.59	264.5	37.105
Gazprom	+0.46	331.1	20.819
Lukoil	+0.8	6829.5	7.947
Yandex	+5.92	3652.4	7.260
Norilsk Nickel	-1.73	21700	6.223

(77.8174 rubles – U.S. $1) 

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