Russian stocks mixed on corporate stories, stability of oil prices

MOSCOW, Jul 28 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market closed mixed on Friday on local corporate stories and stability of the oil prices that allowed investors to expect stability of income of large companies, while the ruble’s dynamics undermined the RTS Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.69% to 3,008.61 and the RTS decreased 0.52% to 1,033.67.

“The Russian market still has favorable tendencies for a further mid-term growth. Investor optimism is connected to expectations that the metals companies will restart their dividend payments, to the start of a new period of quarterly and semiannual corporate reports, and to redomiciliation of Russian companies,” Anton Kravchenko, head of managing company Pervaya’s stock management department, said.

Independent gas producer Novatek and internet giant Yandex published upbeat financial reports earlier this week, Kravchenko said.

Novatek rose by 0.40% to 1,502 rubles, and Yandex gained 0.19% to 2,635 rubles.

“A flow of corporate news is not as active as in the previous days, but stability of oil prices above U.S. $83 per barrel of the Brent oil blend creates some certainty in the incomes of the largest companies,” Otkritie Broker’s leading analyst for global research Andrei Kochetkov said.

The Russian market is not overbought, and tried to entrench above 3,000. Such a high level usually causes investors to take their profits, but the current conditions limit ideas for investment, and the January–June results of companies are not weak. Moreover, there is hope that the companies that paid no dividends for 2022 will provide some bonuses for their investors from undisbursed profits triggering market growth by 5–10% more, Kochetkov said.

The shares of real estate developer Samolet Group increased by 0.12% to 3,698 rubles. The company’s net profit fell by 5% on the year to 12.5 billion rubles in January–June, but its revenue increased by 15% to 101.8 billion rubles and the primary real estate sales rose by 15% to 97.3 billion rubles, he said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	+2.85	5829.50	7.854
Sberbank	+0.54	249.29	7.479
VTB	-0.04	0.02509	4.674
Gazprom	-0.03	171.95	1.805
Samolet Group	+0.12	3698.00	1.761

(90.0225 rubles –U.S. $1)

End