Russian stocks rise amid higher crude trend, corp stories support

MOSCOW, Sep 3 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market rose on Friday thanks mainly to a rise in oil prices amid a negative external background and some support from corporate stories, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose by 0.27 % to 4,001.70 and the RTS increased by 0.44% to 1,734.16.

“The local market won back all its morning losses by the middle of the day. The buyers were held back only by the worries about (the release) of … labor market data in the U.S. Oil continued to maintain optimism moving upward from the level of U.S. $73 per barrel of Brent,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global research at Otkritie Broker, said.

According to analysts, the growth in crude prices sparked on Thursday amid disruption of oil production in the Gulf of Mexico hit by the Ida hurricane and a record rise in demand for gasoline in India. The trend worn out a bit on Friday but was strong enough to support the Russian market.

Elena Kozhukhova, analyst at VELES Capital, said that there was no unity in sentiment on global stock exchanges. Weak U.S. employment data for August did not cause a rally on the market of risky assets, but rather provoked some consolidation.

The stocks of UC RUSAL continued to lead in the metals sectors, rising 8.07%, as purchases were supported by the aluminum prices staying around their 10-year maximum and by hopes for softening of export duties for the company, Kochetkov said.

Norilsk Nickel grew 2.26% as the company is likely to pay interim dividends for January–June.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1,79	317.9	18.996
Sberbank	+0,45	330.49	9.094
Norilsk Nickel	+2,26	24420	7.143
UC RUSAL	+8,07	61.26	4.679
NLMK	-0,04	6348	3.834

(72.8491 rubles – U.S. $1)

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