Russian stocks grow, following European, US markets

MOSCOW, Apr 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Tuesday in line with the European and U.S. markets, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.61% to 2,612.24, and the RTS Index grew 2.39% to 1,109.60.

"Sellers predominated the Russian market in the morning. But everything is changing fast. The oil quotations rose at some moment, and there was strong growth in Europe. Therefore, domestic investors reacted with more active purchases," Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

According to Kochetkov, the European investors focused on easing of the quarantine. The U.S. stock market futures increased although the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) announced extension of a program of direct bond acquisition from the states, cities and local administrations.

Kochetkov said that the oil trend was partially conditioned by fears of storage overload, partially by hopes of market balancing. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that the market would start to rebalance when OPEC plus agreements enters in force although he did not expect a significant price rise. 

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said that at the end of the session the stocks receded from daily maximums but were still higher than the opening.

Kochetkov said that the Moscow Exchange was among the leaders, rising 4.37% after the shareholders approved dividends of 7.93 rubles per share.

Kozhukhova said that ALROSA grew 3.25% on a statement of the head of the Yakutia republic that the company would not postpone dividend payment for 2019. Novatek rose 4.07% ahead of publication of a financial report for January–March under IFRS.

She said that the gold companies decreased on the back of a fall of gold prices and futures.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+2.06	192.8	15.059
Lukoil	+1.9	4738.5	12.983
Gazprom	+1.19	188.5	8.333
Rosneft	-0.68	325.1	5.718
Norilsk Nickel	-0.1	20054	5.204

(74.4960 rubles – U.S. $1)

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