Russian stocks rise amid improvement of foreign background

MOSCOW, Feb 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Thursday in light of an optimistic foreign background with rising stock exchanges and advancing gold prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 0.6% to 2,243.54 and the RTS increased 0.16% to 1,004.08.

“The Russian stock market remained in the positive territory at the end of the trading session on Thursday thanks to purchases in some shares and a positive global environment,” Veles Broker analyst Yelena Kozhukhova said.

The MOEX Russia and the RTS indices hit the highest levels since November 2022, and foreign stock exchanges looked optimistic, she added.

Freedom Finance Global’s Senior Analyst Natalya Milchakova said that the positive external background was caused by the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to raise the key rate by 0.25 percentage points, which increased investors’ appetite for risk.

She added that small and medium capitalization companies were the leaders of the Russian market.

Kozhukhova also said that gold producers Seligrad and Polymetal International were among the best gainers rising by 6.68% and 4.84%, respectively, to the peaks since May 2022 as the gold price had broken through the U.S. $1,950 per ounce mark.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.68	159.36	7.448
Polyus	-1.1	9613	4.478
Polymetal International	+4.84	517.7	2.937
Lukoil	-0.85	3922	1.957
Severstal	+2.21	998.2	1.654

(70.1217 rubles – U.S. $1)

End