Russian stocks rebound on higher Brent, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Mar 11 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market rose on Wednesday, rebounding after a previous fall on the back of ruble consolidation and a rising Brent price, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.37% to 1,671.47 and the RTS increased 0.31% to 847.98.

“The Russian stock market stopped falling after its slump on Tuesday due to the rebound of oil quotations. The oil dynamics remains the key factor for the Russian stock market fluctuations – the fall of “black gold” quotations stopped leading to the stock market higher and making the ruble stronger,” Veles Capital said in a research note.

The market is volatile in anticipation of the central bank’s meeting on the key rate on Friday and may fall on Thursday, Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

If the regulator cuts the key rate, as the market expects, the ruble may weaken by 2–3% against the dollar, she said.

The stock market growth is curbed by new U.S. sanctions against Russia, Vitaly Manzhos, analyst at Nord-Capital, said.

The U.S. Treasury Department added Russian National Commercial Bank and the Eurasian Youth Union to the sanctions list.

Media reports that Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend an official ceremony in Moscow on May 9 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two due to tensions of the Ukraine crisis, were not welcomed by investors, Manzhos said.

Debt-ridden metals and mining group Mechel rose 22.23% to 15.570 rubles as Andrei Kostin, CEO of VTB Bank, Mechel’s lender, announced plans to meet with Mechel’s CEO Igor Zyuzin to settle company’s debt to the bank, Sofya Kirsanova, analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, said.

Russian Grids, which presented a list of measures to promote financial stability of the company to the Economic Development Ministry, as the analyst said, rose 0.87% to 0.581 rubles.

UTair, which said that the company has achieved an amicable agreement with its lender Alfa-Bank rose 10.04% to 14.25 rubles.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.26	70.68	10.529
Gazprom	-1.39	145.99	5.556
Lukoil	+1.62	2726.90	3.512
Norilsk Nickel	+1.10	10588.00	1.849
Surgutneftegas	+1.39	40.00	1.671

(60.6649 rubles – U.S. $1)

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