Russian stocks grow backed by high oil, strong ruble

MOSCOW, May 25 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Wednesday supported by rising oil prices, growth of the ruble, and top lender Sberbank’s strong financial report, analysts said.

The MICEX went up 0.78% to 1,898.75 and the RTS increased 1.85% to 907.97.

“The Russian stock market continued yesterday’s growth today supported by Brent oil price consolidating above U.S. $49 per barrel,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

“The foreign currency-denominated RTS index demonstrated an outrunning growth propelled by significant strengthening of the ruble against the U.S. dollar,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

The oil price growth and positive corporate reports were the main growth drivers, Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Sberbank’s shares grew 3.54% on reports that the bank’s net profit surged to 117.7 billion rubles in January–March from 30.6 billion rubles in the same period of 2015, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Shares of Bank Saint-Petersburg jumped 4.81% on reports that the bank’s IFRS net profit soared to 1.17 billion rubles in January–March from 568.941 million rubles in the same period of 2015.

Power utility Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) continued Tuesday’s growth and closed 3.02% higher on a strong financial report for January–March and expectations of the board of directors’ dividend recommendations.

Fertilizer producer PhosAgro rose 0.07% on reports that the company’s IFRS net profit rose 60% on the year to 22.63 billion rubles in January–March.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.54	127.87	14.479
Gazprom	+0.14	146.55	4.611
Lukoil	-0.23	2650.50	2.692
FGC UES	+3.02	0.12298	1.359
Norilsk Nickel	-0.07	9079.00	1.272

(67.0493 rubles – U.S. $1)

End