Russian stocks rise amid foreign optimism, oil price growth

MOSCOW, Dec 17 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks increased on Thursday backed by optimism on global floors and rising oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 0.39% to 3,282.67 and the RTS increased 1.37% to 1,419.22.

“The MOEX Russia Index and RTS remained in positive territory by the end of the trading session amid optimism abroad and corporate histories, but retreated from the peaks updated during the session,” Veles Capital analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The foreign background was moderately positive. Trading in the U.S. started with growth of three main indices, which were adding 0.4–0.5% by the end of the Russian session. Moderately positive moods were seen on European floors.

The nearest futures for Brent and WTI oil remained in steady plus by the end of the day and were adding around 1%.

Gold producers Polymetal, Polyus, and Petropavlovsk were among growth leaders, adding 3.68%,3.59 %, and 4.84%, respectively, on growth of gold prices.

Aluminum giant UC RUSAL dropped 5.87%, as Bloomberg reported that businessman Oleg Deripaska continues to influence the company and its main owner En+ Group, which lost 3.96%.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+3.69	213.81	32.241
Sberbank	-0.07	278.16	25.105
Lukoil	-0.33	5157.00	10.126
Norilsk Nickel	+0.31	23450.00	8.395
Polyus	+3.59	15280.00	5.599

(73.4201 rubles – U.S. $1)

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