Russian stocks rise as foreign bourses stay in green

MOSCOW, Aug 19 (PRIME) -- The Russian stocks grew on Monday as the foreign stock floors remained in the green zone due to positive news coming from China and Germany, while the ruble’s weakening resulted in a slight disparity between the RTS Index and the MOEX Russia Index, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index rose 1.26% to 2,648.09 and the RTS increased 0.62% to 1,247.53.

“The Russian market grew in reaction to the optimistic mood of players in Asia and Europe,” Otkritie Broker’s senior analyst Andrei Kochetkov said.

Yaroslav Kabakov, director for strategies at investment company Finam, said that the foreign markets increased on the news that Bank of China announced a reform of its interest rates mechanism to ease lending conditions to companies, while Germany’s coalition government is preparing to soften its budget rule that should help its economy to avoid recession, he said.

Arseny Dadashev, director of the Academy for Management of Finance and Investment, said that the MOEX Russia Index rose more confidently due to the ruble’s weakening, and the RTS Index showed weaker dynamics due to the same reason.

Kochetkov also said that shares of agricultural holding Rusagro were among the gain leaders rising XX% to XX rubles as the company’s net profit jumped 43% to 3.336 billion rubles in January–June, and its board of directors recommended paying U.S. $0.95 per share in interim dividends.

Shares of metals and mining group Mechel were among the loss leaders sliding XX% to XX rubles as financial results may worsen due to the weakening of the Chinese economy, Kochetkov said.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Lukoil	+4.80	5240.00	9.851
Sberbank	+1.09	217.40	8.176
Gazprom	+0.93	226.80	4.317
Rosneft	-0.19	404.00	1.752
Norilsk Nickel	+0.72	14758.00	1.632

(65.9961 rubles – U.S. $1)

End