Russian stocks rise amid oil surge, as OPEC may meet in February

MOSCOW, Jan 28 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Thursday on an oil price rise caused by the news that OPEC and other oil producing countries may meet in February to discuss oil production cuts, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 1.39% to 1,771.93 and the RTS increased 3.16% to 727.13.

“In our point of view, the main growth driver was a surge of oil quotations after Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said that OPEC and other oil producers will meet in February to discuss reduction of oil output,” Mikhail Abramov, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said.

Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at Raiffeisen Capital, also attributed the oil price rise to Novak’s statement.

Russian stocks were also supported by a ruble rise against the U.S. dollar as the latter was weakening on statements by Federal Reserve’s officials that it is likely to raise its key rate slowly amid a tough economic situation in the world, Kirsanova said.

VTB rose 4.27% after the bank signed an agreement with Russian Post to establish the Post bank, Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Meat producer Cherkizovo Group increased 3.78% on strong operating results for 2015, Kirsanova said.

Oil major Lukoil rose 3.94%, oil producer Tatneft grew 3.98%, and gas producer Novatek gained 3.07% amid increasing oil prices.

Russian metals producers fell, which can be attributed to the news that the E.U. plans to introduce an import duty on Russian cold-rolled stock, Abramov said. Steel maker Severstal fell 3.3%, Magnitogorsk Iron and steel Works (MMK) decreased 3.74% and Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK) went down 2.25%.

Below are the MICEX’ five most active stocks on Thursday:

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.98	96.69	17.265
Gazprom	+1.87	136.50	5.430
Lukoil	+3.94	2495.00	4.416
VTB	+4.27	0.0716	2.214
Norilsk Nickel	-0.23	8970.00	2.158

(78.9969 rubles – U.S. $1)

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