Russian stocks grow on oil price, foreign markets' gain

MOSCOW, Sep 22 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Wednesday on the back of oil price and foreign markets' growth, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.52% to 4,030.98, and the RTS index increased 2.13% to 1,747.31.

"The Russian market is trying to recover after losses which formed in the first trading day of the week… The increase is mostly concentrated in mineral resource securities, as oil prices and industrial metals rose," Andrei Kochetkov, Otkritie Broker senior analyst, said.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the external background for the Russian trading session was positive as the Brent and WTI futures grew about 1.5% to U.S. $76 and $73 respectively, the peaks of September. The prices were supported by the increase of risk appetite, and expectations that the U.S. Energy Department would report a reserve cut for the previous week.

The European markets were moderately positive as the Euro Stoxx Index rose 0.9%. The U.S. stock market was moderately positive before opening, as the S&P 500 futures gained 0.5%. Market participants are optimistic ahead of a meeting of the Federal Reserve System (Fed), because the risks of economic stimuli curtailing have been partially priced in, the analyst said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.1	338.99	18.018
Sberbank	+1.6	328.42	11.417
Rosneft	+4.02	587.2	6.692
MMK	+3.88	77.98	4.861
Lukoil	+1.45	6701	4.052

(73.2067 – U.S. $1)

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