Russian stocks grow on oil price recovery, optimism in Europe, US

MOSCOW, Sep 3 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Thursday on the back of oil price stabilization following recent sharp fluctuations and optimistic moods in Europe and the U.S., analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.17% to 1,710.57 and the RTS increased 2.01% to 805.23.

The Russian market received the main support from investors’ optimism on European floors, which are growing by 1.7–2.2% on Thursday on reports that the European Central Bank is ready to expand the quantitative easing program, Raiffeisen Capital analyst Sofya Kirsanova said. The regulator also lowered forecasts for the gross domestic product growth and the Eurozone’s inflation in 2015–2017 due to increased concerns over the global economic slowdown and weakening domestic demand, the analyst said.

“Today’s suspense of recent sharp fluctuations of oil futures is an additional stimulus for temporary stabilization of the Russian market,” Vitaly Manzhos, senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Oil prices have recovered despite Wednesday’s disappointing statistics on the U.S. oil reserves, as market participants paid more attention to the dynamics of the U.S. oil production, which decreased 1.3% on August 22–28, InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said. “This helped quotations not only to stay afloat, but recover to above the psychologically important mark of U.S. $50 (per barrel),” the analyst said.

National flag carrier Aeroflot remained among outsiders having fallen by 1.57%, as investors are taking profit after the company announced plans to buy 75% in troubled airline Transaero, Kirsanova said. Transaero shares went down 13.7%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.71	74.15	7.898
Gazprom	+1.91	145.30	4.060
Lukoil	+2.58	2503.00	2.705
Norilsk Nickel	+2.42	10600.00	2.211
Rosneft	+0.06	249.15	1.841

(66.6756 rubles – U.S. $1)

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