Russian stocks grow on Monday on global positive, US statistics

MOSCOW, Jun 4 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Monday, supported by a positive mood of global investors due to release of U.S. labor market statistics on June 1, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.23% to 2,323.64 and the RTS increased 1.32% to 1,179.78.

“The first trade week of the summer started with a growth of indices over the world. The European indices grew about 0.5% following release of positive U.S. labor market statistics on Friday. Improvement of job creation dynamics raised certainty of investors in further growth of the global economy,” Yevgenia Abramovich, head of the currency risks research department at Swiss brokerage house Dukascopy Bank SA, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that dissatisfaction of U.S. allies with the Washington’s trade policy strengthens Russia’s position against the U.S. restrictions, which acts as a positive factor for the market.

“In addition to that, there are signs that some foreign investments of the Russians are returning to the country due to investigation into their origin in the U.K. and Cyprus,” Kochetkov said.

He also said that the global depositary receipts (GDRs) of En+ Group gained 3.62% after a company’s statement that its CEO and President Maxim Sokov had resigned. Sokov was one of representatives of tycoon Oleg Deripaska in the company, so the resignation is a measure to avoid U.S. sanctions, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	0.00	220.00	7.118
Lukoil	+2.22	4299.00	3.202
Gazprom	+1.69	146.44	1.872
Sberbank prefs	-0.32	195.39	1.586
VTB	-0.78	0.04703	1.443

(62.2056 rubles – U.S. $1)

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