Russian stocks grow backed by external background, strong ruble

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Friday following positive sentiments on the global markets and a strong ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.69% to 3,457.68 and the RTS increased 1.77% to 1,472.33.

“The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices remained in the positive territory by the end of the trading session and rocketed higher thanks to the support of foreign sentiments,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

There was optimism on external stock exchanges, which was added with local corporate stories, she also said. The markets try to resume growth amid persisting positive macroeconomic outlooks.

Saturday will be a business day on the Russian bourses, but investors’ activity is unlikely to be high, Kozhukhova added.

Freedom Finance analyst Valery Yemelyanov said that the domestic stock market’s advance was supported by a strong ruble.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.63	271.35	14.588
Norilsk Nickel	+5.17	28082	14.545
Gazprom	+0.76	226.17	9.388
Lukoil	+0.9	5665.5	6.478
Yandex	+1.1	5062.8	5.282

(73.7755 rubles – U.S. $1)

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