Russian stocks rise amid higher energy prices, stronger ruble

MOSCOW, Sep 27 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market rose on Monday thanks to strong energy prices, the strengthening of the ruble and a moderately positive external background, as well as rising crude prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.06% to 4,081.22, and the RTS index increased 1.53% to 1,774.24.

Yelena Kozhukhova, an analyst at Veles Capital, said that global stock exchanges were dominated by optimistic sentiments during the day.

“The MOEX index renewed a historical maximum, while the RTS index – a 10-year maximum. Our result was much better than other platforms, many of which were in the red zone… Nevertheless, even the Chinese stock market managed to close with a loss of less than 1%,” Dmitry Babin of BCS Investment Group said.

Yegor Zhilnikov of Promsvyazbank said that the MOEX index was driven by rising energy prices, “which, in turn, pushed oil and gas stocks to local and historical highs.” Energy prices have been steadily growing amid higher demand and a shortage in fuel stocks in Western countries and increasing investors’ interest in such assets, he added.

“The key interest in the financial sector was fixed on the ‘blue chips’ (shares of Sberbank and VTB Bank) … on the background of increased risk appetite among global investors after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting,” Zhilnikov said.

Spot demand remained on shares of coal miners which were winning back their previous losses with concurrently high prices for the traded raw materials, Zhilnikov added.

Real estate developer Etalon’s stocks decreased despite reporting a 29% year-on-year rise in revenue and a 125% jump in EBITDA, before purchase price allocation, for January–June, Kozhukhova said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Gazprom	+1.96	351.05	25.095
Sberbank	+1.98	331.89	10.674
Lukoil	+1.89	6954	9.442
Rosneft	+2.02	626.4	7.475
Novatek	-1.83	1850.2	5.829

(73.0081 rubles – U.S. $1)

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