Russian stocks increase slightly on rising oil prices

MOSCOW, Oct 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew slightly on Wednesday on the back of an oil price rise, but the growth was limited by negative foreign markets dynamics and expectations of U.S. Federal Reserve System (Fed) meeting protocol release, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.68% to 2,101.07 and the RTS increased 0.75% to 1,143.32.

“The interest in the Russian market has cooled slightly on the current level. Players are unsure whether it is worth the cost… But we should not expect a serious correction on the market while oil prices are in the upward trend,” Anastasia Ignatenko, an analyst at TeleTrade, said.

The Brent price returned to U.S. $56.80 per barrel. According to Otkritie Broker analyst Timur Nigmatullin, foreign markets formed a moderate and negative background for the Russian trade with both U.S. S&P 500 and E.U. Stoxx 600 falling.

Finam analyst Vasily Oleinik said that Wednesday was probably the last day seeing a subdued investor activity as the U.S. corporate reporting season is scheduled to start on Thursday with publication of reports of the key banks Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

A protocol from a U.S. Fed meeting, which is scheduled to be released at 9:00 p.m. Moscow time, can spoil investors’ mood a little. The upcoming protocol release was a stress factor for risky assets, Oleinik said.

He said that Severstal’s shares grew 1.88% after a nice financial report.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.36	195.83	11.338
Gazprom	+1.25	126	3.806
Norilsk Nickel	+0.20	10275	1.808
ALROSA	-0.48	81.16	1.378
Lukoil	+0.08	3040	1.248

(58.0713 rubles – U.S. $1)

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