Russian stocks mixed on oil price rise, ruble weakening

MOSCOW, Feb 20 (PRIME) -- The MOEX Russia Index increased on Thursday on the back of a rise of oil prices and investor hopes for consumption recovery in China as the People’s Bank of China cut the key rate, while the RTS index fell due to weakening of the ruble, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.34% to 3,125.10 and the RTS index fell 0.41% to 1,535.81.

“The Russian market traded in the green zone encouraged by oil and another incentive in China. Nevertheless, the European indices were under pressure which restrained Russian buyers,” Andrei Kochetkov, analyst at Otkritie Broker, said.

Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Market, said: “The indices of the Moscow Exchange and RTS decreased from the maximums at the end of the day and were mixed including due to the ruble dynamics.”

She said that the foreign background for the Russian market was moderately positive as oil prices added up to 0.5%. The quotations dipped from the daily maximums in the evening but remained in the positive trend.

The European markets declined as the number of people who contracted coronavirus grew in Japan and South Korea. The U.S. stock market futures were in the red zone, S&P 500 declined by 0.1%.

Yaroslav Kabakov, director for strategies at investment company Finam, said that the Russian market caught up with the growth of the U.S. market on Wednesday.

Kozhukhova said that Rosneft recovered after lows of the start of the week aiming at one-year high of 489.9 rubles.

Kochetkov said that besides Rosneft, Gazprom grew on investor hopes that the Chinese rate cut would restore consumption quickly. The State Duma, Russian parliament’s lower chamber, approved in the second reading a draft law to support Arctic projects.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.16	234.6	7.881
Sberbank	+0.18	250.15	7.704
Norilsk Nickel	-0.79	22342	5.256
Lukoil	+0.53	6543.5	4.843
Rosneft	+1.02	470.4	4.261

(63.6873 – U.S. $1)

End