Russian stocks grow on rising oil prices, strengthening ruble

MOSCOW, Aug 18 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market increased on Thursday, because a negative trend on rest of the stock markets was offset by the oil price recovery and a strengthening of the ruble, analysts said. 

The MOEX Russia Index increased by 0.26% to 2,194.31, and the RTS index grew 2.28% to 1,162.30.

"The moods on the global markets were moderately pessimistic and cautious, because concerns over a deceleration of global economic growth remained. The Asian floors closed in the red zone. The European indices also decreased ahead of the release of inflation data in the euro zone. The futures for U.S. indices continued to fall after a Wednesday's decline," Managing company Pervaya analyst Sofya Kirsanova said.

According to the analyst, market participants were worried about an intent of the U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) to continue raising the key rate in spite of the weakening of the economy to reduce inflation. A recent rally is mostly seen as an upward correction in the framework of a larger bearish trend.

The Brent oil blend was recovering and reached U.S. $95 due to a strong U.S. dollar. However, the signs of an economic growth deceleration are limiting the oil demand prospects and price growth, Kirsanova said.

Finam analyst Anna Builakova said that the strengthening of the ruble against the U.S. dollar led to the RTS index outperforming the MOEX Russia Index.  

The Russian oil sector was the leader of the session on the back of the oil price recovery, the analyst said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.45	126.3	3.189
Gazprom	+1.34	178.87	2.842
Lukoil	+0.33	3920	1.258
PhosAgro	-0.19	7884	1.151
Novatek	-0.46	1090	0.997

(60.7552 rubles – U.S. $1)

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