Russian stocks mixed on favorable backdrop, higher oil, weak ruble

MOSCOW, Jul 29 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock indices closed mixed after experiencing pressure from a falling ruble and receiving support from a favorable environment on the foreign bourses and rising commodity markets, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index increased by 1.13% to 2,213.81, and the RTS index fell by 0.75% to 1,129.24.

“The Russian indices traded with no single dynamics in the first half of the day. A weak ruble was putting pressure on the RTS index, but was keeping the MOEX Russia Index from decline. … The activity on the stock market was quite low,” Otkritie Research leading analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Investment company Finam analyst Igor Dodonov said that the Russian stocks were supported by a favorable environment on the foreign stock floors, which were not frightened by toughening of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s monetary policy and risks of the U.S. economy going into a recession.  

The continuing weakening of the ruble and a rise of the commodities markets also supported the Russian market’s dynamics, Dodonov added. The Brent oil futures jumped by more than 3%, he said.

Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said that the situation in the economy is better than it was projected in the spring, and this fact could also supported the domestic market, Dodonov said.

Kochetkov said that the IT stocks, which showed a solid increase of 32.64% from the start of July, mainly decreased during the trading session. However, their growth potential is still not exhausted, he added.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.14	131.9	3.657
Gazprom	-0.5	195.26	2.761
Yandex	-5.38	1952	2.583
Norilsk Nickel	+4.19	16150	2.192
Rosneft	+2.53	353	1.462

(60.2031 rubles – U.S. $1)

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