Russian stocks grow on oil price rebound, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Oct 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed higher on Wednesday supported by a resumed increase of oil prices and the ruble’s strengthening against the U.S. dollar, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.04% to 1,726.61 and the RTS increased 1.84% to 854.74.

“Today, Brent oil prices managed to regain part of the recent decline and rebounded from the minimum level of around U.S. $46.58,” Alfa-Forex analyst Andrei Dirgin said. Brent rose to almost $49 per barrel as trading closed in Moscow on reports that the U.S. oil reserves grew last week at a slower pace than expected, the analyst said.

The RTS index received support from the ruble strengthening against the U.S. dollar, Bank Obrazovanie’s senior analyst Vitaly Manzhos said.

On the whole, trading activity was low on Wednesday, as investors were cautious and preferred to take profits ahead of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting’s results, analysts said.

Troubled airline Transaero’s shares jumped 57.28% on rumors that S7 owners plan to acquire 19% in the company by the end of the week.

Oil company Bashneft rose 2% despite reporting a 20% decline in net profit for January–September.

Power producer E.ON Russia closed 1.6% lower on reports that its net profit fell 50% on the year to 9.167 billion rubles in January–September, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards.

Independent gas producer Novatek fell 2% on reports that it received a 13.405 billion ruble net loss in July–September against a 7.627 billion ruble net profit in the same period of 2014, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards.

Aluminum giant UC RUSAL fell 3.4% despite positive operating results for January–September.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.18	90.05	11.391
Gazprom	-0.29	138.10	4.954
Magnit	+1.16	11491.00	2.491
Lukoil	+0.27	2357.00	2.424
Norilsk Nickel	-0.41	9670.00	2.288

(63.5004 rubles – U.S. $1)

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