Russian stocks rise amid stable oil, closed US, UK floors

MOSCOW, May 30 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks moderately increased on Monday supported by the oil price remaining above U.S. $49 per barrel, but investor activity was low as the U.S. and the U.K trading floors were closed, analysts said.

The MICEX rose 0.41% to 1,935.54 and the RTS increased 0.87% to 925.51.

“The Russian stock market demonstrated a moderate growth today backed by Brent oil consolidating above $49 per barrel,” Finam analyst Bogdan Zvarich said.

“The foreign currency denominated RTS index increased significantly under the influence of the strengthened ruble,” Vitaly Manzhos, a senior analyst at Bank Obrazovanie, said.

Power utility Federal Grid Company of Unified Energy Systems (FGC UES) was among growth leaders, having increased 3.02% on reports that its board of directors has recommended paying 0.0133185 rubles per share in dividends for 2015.

Construction company Mostotrest grew 2.03% on reports that its board of directors has recommended paying 10.64 rubles per share, or a total of 3.003 billion rubles, in dividends for 2015.

Retailer Dixy Group fell 3.33% after reporting that its net loss widened to 1.512 billion rubles in January–March from 140 million rubles in the same period of 2015, as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

Oil company Bashneft, whose IFRS net profit increased 26.7% on the year to 14.434 billion rubles in January–March, closed 0.89% higher.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	­+0.94	134.45	5.029
Gazprom	-0.19	149.60	2.213
FGC UES	+3.02	0.12699	0.990
Lukoil	+0.50	2695.50	0.860
Sberbank pref	+1.43	89.83	0.784

(66.0413 rubles – U.S. $1)

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