Russian stocks rise amid oil price growth, ruble stabilization

MOSCOW, Sep 12 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market edged up on Tuesday thanks to strong crude prices that gave support to energy stocks, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index grew 1.39% to 3,165.92 and the RTS increased 1.56% to 1,049.65.

“The MOEX Russia Index turned to growth, adding 0.9% to 3,150 today. The market was supported by oil prices with the Brent oil price rising by 1.7% to U.S. $92 per barrel,” Promsvyazbank senior analyst Vladimir Lyashchuk said.

The fall of the ruble has stopped, and the quotations returned to the level of the previous day’s closing of 95 rubles per U.S. dollar.

Energy stocks were strongly demanded thanks to high crude prices, Lyashchuk said. Independent gas producer Novatek was among the leaders of the market on the news its Arctic LNG-2 liquefied natural gas facility has reached the startup stage. The shares of oil pipeline monopoly Transneft advanced on the news of a share split.

In the financial sector, top bank Sberbank was among the best performers after the announcement of its readiness to send at least 50% of the net profit to dividends. Second-largest lender VTB demonstrated positive dynamics amid expectations of a net profit of 420 billion rubles in the entire 2023.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.76	260.75	9.426
Transneft, prefs	+4.16	148950	8.575
Lukoil	+2.97	6648	8.125
Gazprom	+1.07	176.5	3.217
VTB Bank	+2.01	0.0272	3.145

(96.5083 rubles – U.S. $1)

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