Russian stocks rise as market welcomes Putin-Trump meeting

MOSCOW, Jul 10 (PRIME) -- Russian stocks grew on Monday backed by higher oil prices and support from resumed interest to risky assets in the wake of a meeting between President Vladimir Putin with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump, analysts said.

The MICEX edged up 0.69% to 1,925.74 and the RTS increased 1.10% to 1,006.14.

“Local benchmarks were supported by general interest to risky assets that resulted in a favorable background. Investors were also positive in their assessment of the meeting between Putin and Trump despite the lack of tangible results,” Igor Kovalyov, an analyst at InstaForex, said.

Yegor Dakhtler, an analyst at investment company Veles Capital, said that the favorable external background supported moderately positive dynamics of the Russian stock market. “The Asian floors grew thanks to strong macro statistics from China, the U.S. indices were also in the green zone at the start of the trading session. Oil prices were under pressure earlier on Monday, but they restored by the evening and showed growth,” Dakhtler said.

Mikhail Krylov, director of the research department at investment company Golden Hills Capital AM, said that the power sector, transportation companies and banks grew more than 1% and supported the MICEX index. “These dynamics may be explained by dividend expectations of Russian companies,” he said.

Shares of Russian banks were the gain leaders due to “a cynically positive impact from a possible flow of Bank Jugra’s clients to other top banks,” Krylov said.

The central bank introduced a 3-month moratorium on creditors’ demands of Jugra Bank, Russia’s 27th largest by assets, and appointed the Deposit Insurance Agency as interim administration for six months. The regulator suspects the bank of asset stripping and manipulations with deposits.

“This week, metallurgic companies are to start the season of financial reports. This is why major companies of the sector looked stronger than the market today,” said Sofya Kirsanova, an analyst at managing company Raiffeisen Capital.

Steelmakers Severstal, Novolipetsk Steel (NLMK), and Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) grew 0.11% to 810.50 rubles, 0.07% to 120.60 rubles and 0.29% to 34.75 rubles, respectively.

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.87	155.00	9.811
Gazprom	+1.02	124.25	3.369
ALROSA	+0.21	93.60	2.333
Norilsk Nickel	+1.70	8515.00	1.638
Lukoil	+0.11	2859.00	1.411

(60.3792 rubles – U.S. $1)

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