Russian stocks grow on oil price rise, Putin–Trump meeting hopes

MOSCOW, Jul 13 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Friday backed by a modestly positively global background and hopes for meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump planned for July 16, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.05% to 2,346.43 and the RTS rose 1.01% to 1,189.35.

“An upward trend appeared on the Russian stock market on Friday thanks to a rise of Western stock exchanges and positive expectations from the U.S.-Russian summit… In the second part of the day, the growth continued… and the MOEX Russia Index managed to consolidate in the green territory,” Veles Capital analyst Alexander Sidorov said.

Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said that the domestic market was supported by a moderately positive external environment with the key U.S. and European benchmarks demonstrating growth and the Brent oil futures bouncing back to above $75 per barrel.

Sidorov said that the country’s second-biggest lender VTB Bank was among the top performers soaring 2.98% to 0.04975 rubles on optimistic 2018 net profit forecasts.

Diamond producer ALROSA added 1.24% to 101.49 rubles winning bank Thursday’s sharp loss.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.43	229.85	9.081
Norilsk Nickel	+0.34	11398	3.395
Lukoil	+1.96	4319	2.410
Gazprom	+1.23	146.87	1.976
VTB Bank	+2.98	0.04975	1.323

(62.2062 rubles – U.S. $1)

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