Russian stocks grow as oil prices rise above $49 per barrel

MOSCOW, Jul 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed with a moderate increase on Wednesday after falling during almost the entire day, with growth propelled by rising oil prices and a strengthened ruble, analysts said.   

The MICEX rose 0.21% to 1,951.89 and the RTS increased 0.45% to 1,043.13.

“Despite the neutral foreign background, the Russian stock market opened with a significant decline on Wednesday, but managed to win back most of the losses already by the middle of the day,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said. “The situation on the commodities market, where the Brent oil price rose above U.S. $49 per barrel, was a reason for the recovery.”

The situation in Europe, where main indices are gaining up to 0.3%, also supported the domestic market, the analyst said.

Veles Capital analyst Dmitry Zatravkin said that “the MICEX traded in the negative zone the entire day and overpassed the level of yesterday’s close only by the evening.”

InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said that investor activity on global floors is currently reduced due to the upcoming meeting of the European Central Bank (ECB). “This is curbing a growth potential on the Russian market, which faced an additional pressure factor in the form of dividend gaps,” he said.

Gas giant Gazprom and uncut diamond monopoly ALROSA were major outsiders, sinking by 3.52% and 6.94%, respectively, due to dividend gaps, analysts said.

Shares of multi-industry holding Sistema fell 0.92% as the Arbitration Court of the republic of Bashkortostan rejected the company’s motion requesting to hold an expert appraisal of the economic impact from reorganization of oil company Bashneft under a 170.6 billion ruble suit of oil major Rosneft.

Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port (NCSP) lost 0.14% after reporting that its cargo traffic fell 0.4% on the year to 74.08 million tonnes in January–June.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Wednesday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.63	164.34	9.185
Gazprom	-3.52	120.11	5.143
Aeroflot	+1.92	212.70	1.948
ALROSA	-6.94	89.34	1.741
Lukoil	+1.97	2896.00	1.415

(59.3705 rubles – U.S. $1)

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