Russian stocks grow on hopes for Trump–Putin meeting

MOSCOW, Jul 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Monday because investors had positive expectations of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump slated to take place later this week, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 1.23% to 1,902.59 and the RTS rose 0.85% to 1,009.42.

“A favorable foreign background is triggering purchases but unstable oil dynamics are limiting growth potential,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Andrei Dirgin, head of Alfa-Forex analysis department, said that Brent oil was recovering on Monday but the pace of growth was unimpressive.

Kovalyov said that expectations of the meeting between the Russian and U.S. presidents on the sidelines of the next G20 summit slated for Friday and Saturday were also limiting investors’ appetite on Monday.

Dirgin said that market participants expect a constructive dialogue between the officials, which is why the positive trend on the Russian market can strengthen as the meeting date approaches.

Russia’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' index (PMI) fell to 50.3 in June from 52.4 in May, which is limiting the growth of Russian assets, Dirgin said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.31	147.5	5.656
Gazprom	+1.16	119.86	2.177
Lukoil	+1.65	2920	1.729
Rosneft	+1.98	329.4	1.444
Norilsk Nickel	+2.21	8246	0.989

(59.3862 rubles – U.S. $1)

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