Russian stocks mixed on ruble fall, World Bank improved forecast

MOSCOW, Jun 1 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed mixed on Monday, as the RTS fell depressed by the ruble weakening against the U.S. dollar, while the MICEX rebound was supported by exporters’ stocks and a World Bank’s improved forecast of country’s economic growth, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.48% to 1,616.94 and the RTS decreased 1.54% to 953.88.

“The MICEX index has rebounded from the support level of 1,600–1,610 and rose due to the ruble weakening,” Andrei Vernikov, Zerich Capital’s deputy CEO, said.

“The World Bank improved its forecast of the Russian economy. According to the World Bank’s forecast, the decrease of the Russian gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015 will stand at 2.7% against an earlier expected 3.8% fall,” the analyst said.

The main driver of the RTS decrease was the ruble fall to over 53.45 against the U.S. dollar on the back of a low Bent price, while the MICEX was supported by exporters’ stocks, which increased on the back of the depreciation, Sergei Filchenkov, analyst at Metropol, said.

Preferred shares of Vozrozhdenie Bank jumped 39.34% to 251.5 rubles and its common shares rose 13.55% to 486 rubles on the news that billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, owner of Onexim Group, was appointed as a member of the bank’s board of directors. The market is also waiting for a merger of the bank with Absolut Bank, the analyst said.

Power utility Irkutskenergo fell 17.32% to 7.97 rubles, as investors are likely to be dissatisfied with the company’s decision to pay 53 kopecks per share in dividends for 2014, Filchenkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.16	72.65	8.321
Gazprom	+0.29	139.40	4.332
VTB	+0.12	0.08035	3.326
Lukoil	-0.56	2447.50	2.536
Norilsk Nickel	+3.31	9303.00	1.815

(52.9716 rubles – U.S. $1)

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