Russian stocks rise as NATO plans negotiations, growing oil

MOSCOW, Dec 27 (PRIME) -- The stock market grew on Monday in thin trade on the news that NATO is ready to negotiate with Russia and higher oil prices, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.02% to 3,740 and the RTS increased 1.18% to 1,602.91.

“Market activity was low because not all European bourses were open on Monday. The external background cannot be called optimistic definitely, … but we can speak about positive geopolitical signals,” Andrei Kochetkov, leading analyst for global analysis at Otkritie Research, said.

“NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested holding a Russia–NATO meeting on January 12 to discuss the accumulated contradictions.”

The STOXX Europe 600 index grew, showing positive mood of the European investors. On the one hand, the omicron variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus is less dangerous that the previous variants, but on the other hand, the potential for its spread is significantly higher. So far, the European governments are not rushing with new restrictions not to spoil the holidays for the voters, Kochetkov said.

Investment company Freedom Finance said in a research note that the Russian market grew thanks to the favorable external background and higher oil prices as concerns connected to the spread of the omicron variant eased.

The price of the Brent oil blend grew by 1.103% to U.S. $76.98 per barrel as of 6.08 p.m. Moscow time, according to the ICE exchange.

Freedom Finance also said that Russia’s second largest bank VTB gained 1,74% to 0.05 rubles as investors priced in the company’s financial report. The bank posted a record net profit of 308.8 billion rubles in January–November, outperforming the 2021 net profit target of 300 billion rubles ahead of schedule.

Gold producer Petropavlovsk Plc lost 3.17% to 19.58 rubles as investors still reacted to the sale of a stake in investment company Stocken Board AG for $10 million, Freedom Finance said in the research note.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+0.39	295.03	9.548
Gazprom	+1.24	343.00	9.023
Norilsk Nickel	+2.64	22400.00	3.915
Lukoil	+0.75	6361.00	2.849
Yandex	+0.80	4460.00	2.209

(73.1886 rubles – U.S. $1)

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