Russian stocks mixed amid positive corporate reports, strong oil

MOSCOW, Aug 1 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market started the session lower on Tuesday, but closed mixed with the MOEX Russia Index breaking through the high of 3,100 somewhere during the day thanks to sound corporate reports of local companies and the support of strong crude prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.66% to 3,093.64 and the RTS eased 0.16% to 1,055.79.

“The MOEX Russia Index finished the day near the level of 3,100 demonstrating growth of more than 3% over the past three days,” Director of the stock market department at managing company Pervaya Anton Kravchenko said.

“The market’s euphoria is linked to a new reporting period and expectations of interim dividends from most of the issuers, including those who paid no dividends in the past year and a half,” he added.

Kravchenko also said that the Russian market was additionally supported by strong crude prices with the Brent oil price seen near the level of U.S. $85 per barrel.

Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said mentioning the Finance Ministry’s data that the average price for a barrel of Russia’s major oil blend Urals amounted to $64.37 in July, which was 9% more than in January–June and more than the maximum price envisaged by the Western states’ capping mechanism.

Milchakova agreed that the local market was supported by sound financial reports of Russian companies for April–June and January–June.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.41%	268.5	40.282
Lukoil	+1.09%	6002.5	7.342
Gazprom	-0.88%	172.8	5.408
TMK	+5.52%	219.5	5.101
VTB Bank	-0.83%	0.0256	4.667

(91.5923 rubles – U.S. $1)

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