Russian stocks mixed amid improved moods on global floors

MOSCOW, Jul 19 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Friday after growing the entire trading day amid improved moods on global floors and an oil price rebound, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index fell 0.07% to 2,700.57 and the RTS increased 0.07% to 1,350.69.

“On Friday, the Russian stock market made attempts to recover, but the confident upward trend did not work out. The external background was controversial for our shares. Thus, the situation on the energy market where the closest futures for Brent crude fell below U.S. $62.5 per barrel once again contributed to sales in our papers,” Promsvyazbank chief analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

“Bulls” were supported by the dynamics of Western stock markets. In Europe, main indices were demonstrating mixed dynamics around the levels of Thursday’s close by the evening, while in the U.S., after first hours of trading Dow Jones and S&P 500 indices rose by 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively,” the analyst said.

Fertilizer producer Uralkali was among growth leaders, rising by 4.47%, Zvarich said. Coal producer Raspadskaya and power producer Territorial Generating Company-1 (TGC-1) added 2% and 2.52%, respectively.

Financial group Future jumped 8.02% on reports that investment company Leningrad Adagio, controlled by brokerage company Region’s core owner Sergei Sudarikov, bought a 66.59% stake in the group.

Steelmaker Severstal lost 1.92% after reporting that its net profit fell 11.3% on the year to $903 million in January–June, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-0.82	232.85	8.157
Gazprom	-1.05	216.00	4.368
Norilsk Nickel	+0.89	14902.00	3.463
Surgutneftegas pref	-3.2	32.50	1.831
Magnit	-0.66	3820.00	1.518

(62.8286 rubles – U.S. $1)

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