Russian stocks increase in line with oil, global floors

MOSCOW, Jun 29 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Friday backed by growing oil prices and a favorable foreign background, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 2.03% to 2,295.95 and the RTS increased 2.58% to 1,154.16.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS Index remained on the positive territory by the end of trading on Friday amid a favorable foreign background,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The ruble has slightly strengthened against the dollar and weakened against the euro.

Trading in the U.S. started with growth of main indices, and positive moods prevailed on European floors, she said.    

Oil quotations were growing by 1–2% on the back of concerns about disruptions of supplies from Iran, Libya and Canada.

Mobile operator MTS was among growth leaders, adding 4.02% after the company said its management plans to buy back 30 billion rubles of securities over the next two years, Kozhukhova said.

Gas giant Gazprom grew 1.62% as its shareholders approved paying 8.04 rubles per share, or a total of 190.335 billion rubles, in dividends for 2017.

Metals and mining group Mechel added 1.27% as its owners approved paying 16.66 rubles per preferred share, or a total of around 2.312 billion rubles, in dividends for 2017, while paying no dividends on common shares.

State-controlled power grid holding Rosseti lost 0.89% after its shareholders approved paying no dividends for 2017 due to a 13.2 billion ruble net loss and paying 2.468 billion rubles in dividends for January–March of this year.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+4.56	218.00	16.514
Lukoil	+2.82	4350.00	4.357
Gazprom	+1.62	141.01	3.620
MTS	+4.02	278.10	2.120
Norilsk Nickel	+2.56	11399.00	1.816

(63.2910 rubles – U.S. $1)

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