Russian stocks mixed on EU markets optimism, slow oil price rise

MOSCOW, Aug 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Wednesday on the back of positive dynamics on European markets, while growth of oil prices was uninspiring and trade volumes were low, analysts said.

The MICEX fell 0.38% to 1,942.88 and the RTS increased 0.22% to 1,029.76.

“Russian stock exchange indices are also growing, following Europe and oil prices,” Finam expert Vasily Oleinik said.

InstaForex analyst Igor Kovalyov said: “Interest in risk remains on global markets, yet less pronounced than during two last days. This in general forms a favorable background for Russian benchmarks, but the upward impulse does not develop due to unstable dynamics of oil market quotations.”

Oleinik said that Sberbank was the main driver of the Russian market. Power producers were also the market leaders.

Kovalyov said that Norilsk Nickel was the outsider, reacting negatively to reports about a possible decrease of dividend payments for July–December 2017.

Andrei Kochetkov, an analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that weak reports by Russian companies deteriorated the prospects for growth of the Russian market in the future.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.42	173.05	7.287
Norilsk Nickel	-2.18	8725	5.246
Credit Bank of Moscow	-1.91	4424	3.074
Rosgosstrakh	+0.7	0.433	2.452
Gazprom	-0.71	116.75	2.246

(59.9266 rubles – U.S. $1)

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