Russian stocks regain consciousness after Thursday’s shock

MOSCOW, Feb 25 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market recovered on Friday as Western sanctions turned out to be non-critical for Russia’s economy and hopes of peace in Ukraine glimmered, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 20.04% to 2,470.48 and the RTS increased by 26.12% to 936.94.

The Russian stock market was recovering today from yesterday’s day of plummeting stocks and panicked investors. According to Yelena Kozhukhova of Veles Capital, the overall background was positive and all of the Russian market’s sectors showed rebound on the possibility of the acute crisis fading.

 “The MOEX Russia and RTS indices remained in correctional plus by the end of the main trading… (as) the market received an optimistic signal that Putin is ready to return to negotiations with Ukraine,” Kozhukhova said.

Although the geopolitical factor remained the focus of stock market attention, investors found yesterday’s emotion excessive and stocks oversold, Alfa Capital’s analyst Vladislav Silayev said.

The shares of Lukoil, Tatneft and Novatek were supported by high oil and gas prices, as well as the fact that they’ve seemingly dodged the bullet with the Western sanctions, Freedom Finance Analysts said.

The preferential shares of Mechel, shares of Far Eastern Shipping Company, Gazprom Neft and Raspadskaya finished the day in the positive zone, growing from 20.80% to 46.37%, Silayev said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	-1.8	129.8	46.171
Gazprom	+10.24	231.5	41.476
Yandex	-3.52	1920	9.600
Rosneft	+9.3	300.25	9.134
Lukoil	+7.09	4979.5	9.117

(86.9288 rubles – U.S. $1)

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