Russian stocks rise after Tuesday fall on dividend reinvestment

MOSCOW, May 31 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Wednesday after Tuesday’s fall as reinvestment of dividends supported the market, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.70% to 2,717.64 and the RTS increased 0.75% to 1,055.41.

“The MOEX Russia Index tried to grow after yesterday’s downward correction. The index remained in the framework of the medium-term upward trend, within which it may continue moving toward the range of 2,780,” managing company Pervaya’s Ivan Kapustyansky said.

The external background was negative as the oil prices continued their contraction caused by the weakness of the global manufacturing sector confirmed by bleak economic statistics coming from China. The situation with the U.S. state debt remains uncertain, spoiling the foreign markets’ mood, Kapustyansky said.

“Investors are reinvesting large money they receive in the form of dividends, which prevents the Russian market from falling. Investors are buying the downward corrections in some shares swiftly. Given that, the MOEX Russia Index remains close to its one-year record highs within the mid-term growth trend,” Anton Kravchenko, head of Pervaya’s stock department, said.

The oil and gas index of the market was among the leaders with Rosneft being the major driver, he said.

Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said that Rosneft gained 2.91% to 447.15 rubles mainly on the news that its January–March net profit attributable to the company’s shareholders soared by 45.5% on the quarter to 323 billion rubles, he said.

The supervisory board of diamond mining giant ALROSA disappointed investors with its decision to recommend no dividends for 2022, and the company lost 2.34% to 65.95 rubles, Kochetkov said.

Freedom Finance Global’s Vladimir Chernov said that rail cargo operator Globaltrans gained 2.24% to 454.95 rubles after a statement of Russian Railways CEO Oleg Belozyorov that Russia’s container traffic had risen by 8.9% in April and may hit a record of 7 million TEUs in 2023.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.52	245.91	16.690
Lukoil	+0.81	5575.00	5.371
Rosneft	+2.91	447.15	3.627
ALROSA	-2.34	65.95	3.575
VTB	-0.40	0.022395	3.547

(80.6872 rubles – U.S. $1)

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