Russian stocks moderately rise despite foreign pessimism

MOSCOW, Jul 16 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks closed moderately higher on Thursday despite pessimistic moods on global floors and falling oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.44% to 2,760.01 and the RTS added 0.05% to 1,219.93.

“The MOEX Russia Index and the RTS consolidated in a small plus by the end of trading, despite pessimism of foreign floors,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign background was moderately negative. Trading in the U.S. started with a decrease of three main indices, which were losing around 0.3–1.7% by the end of the Russian session. Moderately negative moods were seen on European floors.

The nearest futures for Brent and WTI oil retreated from the session’s lows by the end of trading in Russia and were falling within 0.5%. Investors are waiting for fundamental signals, which would allow them to assess prospects of supply and demand.

Real estate developer Etalon Group was among growth leaders, with its global depositary receipts jumping by 5.25%. Power producer Territorial Generating Company-2 (TGC-2) added 2.16%.

Metals and mining group Mechel’s preferred shares lost 4.13% on a dividend gap. Coal producer Raspadskaya and gold producer Polyus were among outsiders, losing 2.61% and 1.44%, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.48	212.10	7.791
Gazprom	+0.83	183.78	5.061
Norilsk Nickel	+0.79	18120.00	4.405
Polyus	-1.44	13079.00	4.025
Lukoil	+0.26	4962.50	3.785

(70.7998 rubles – U.S. $1)

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