Russian stocks mixed as oil falls, PMI, US stats positive

MOSCOW, Sep 1 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Thursday with the ruble-denominated RTS falling on the back of an oil price dive and the dollar-denominated MICEX buoyed by the weakening ruble and by a purchasing managers’ index rise, analysts said.

The MICEX grew 0.27% to 1,976.91 and the RTS declined 0.56% to 944.96.

“The MICEX feels quite confident in spite of negative oil dynamics. The benchmark received some support from positive business activity statistics in the Russian industrial sector, which rose to 50.8 in August. Mixed statistics from the U.S. which casts doubt on a U.S. Federal Reserve System key rate rise expected in September, adds to the upbeat mood,” Forex Club analyst Irina Rogova said.

Oil fell after a statement by Energy Minister Alexander Novak that Russia sees no sense in limiting output in the current oil pricing environment, analysts said.

Brent fell 2.41% to U.S. $45.76 per barrel as of 6:31 p.m., Moscow time.

Finam analyst Timur Nigmatullin said that revaluation of minerals producers on the back of a ruble weakening contributed to the growth of Russian stocks.

Otkritie Broker analyst Andrei Kochetkov said a surfacing of Russia’s Manufacturing PMI (purchasing managers’ index) from the negative zone is a positive factor for the Russian market.

“An information lull has come to the Russian market after a recent influx of semiannual corporate reports, this is why trade participants mainly continue to reflect on the previous days’ events,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Rosneft is correcting downwards after reaching a 350 rubles per share notch. A recent statement by presidential aide Andrei Belousov that privatization of Rosneft might be held in 2016 can be an additional negative factor for the shares, Manzhos said. Rosneft went down 0.99% to 341.3 rubles per share.

RusHydro is moderately falling after Wednesday’s surge, he said. It closed at 0.7944 rubles per share, down 0.25%.

Mechel continues increasing on the back of a solid financial report for January–June under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), Manzhos said. Mechel closed at 72.3 rubles, up 5.24%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.52	144.25	6.050
Gazprom	+0.03	134.99	2.845
Lukoil	+0.86	2,938	1.382
VTB	+2.50	0.0702	1.177
Norilsk Nickel	+0.63	9,631	1.107

(65.2535 rubles – U.S. $1)

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