Russian stocks grow on European, US markets optimism

MOSCOW, May 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Thursday following a generally upward trend on the Western markets, analysts said. 

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.42% to 2,779.98, and the RTS Index increased 2.44% to 1,241.77.

"The markets continue to rise ignoring growing tension in the American–Chinese relations. Europe hopes for economic support programs, while in Russia, dividend stories have become interesting again," Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

He said that the European indices showed cautious growth with the tourism sector gaining most, while China's legislators approved a national security law in Hong Kong. The U.S. reacted by promising to expel students from China who are affiliated with the law enforcement authorities. President Donald Trump is to give a speech containing details of harsh measures against China.   

But according to Dmitry Bedenkov, head of the research department of investment company Russ-Invest, the European markets grew on the back of expectations of 250 billion euros of cheap additional loans suggested by the European Commission.

He said that the key American indices closed 0.8–2.2% higher and the futures receded by only 0.2% as the Beige Book of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) did not show any unexpected pessimistic data.  

Kochetkov said that the COVID-19 statistics was disappointing as the U.S. reported an overall of more than 100,000 deaths. White House Councilor Anthony Fauci warned the authorities of states against easing the restrictions too fast.

The oil prices were under some pressure of the U.S.–China conflict and a report by the American Petroleum Institute (API), which said that commercial oil reserves in the U.S. rose by 8.7 million barrels over the week until May 22, Kochetkov said.     

The Brent price grew 0.32% to U.S. $34.85 as of 4:37 p.m., Moscow time.

Kochetkov said that Wholesale Generating Company-2 (WGC-2) was among the Russian market leaders, rising 3.24% after the board of directors recommended paying 0.05 rubles per share in dividends for 2019, which was 50% of the net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).    

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+3.27	205	23.677
Gazprom	+1.09	196.86	7.840
Lukoil	+0.74	5392	7.510
Norilsk Nickel	+1.96	22544	5.469
Sberbank pref	+3.75	185.5	3.771

(71.0635 rubles – U.S. $1)

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