Russian stocks rise as markets wait for oil deal with US

MOSCOW, Apr 2 (PRIME) -- The Russian stock market grew on Thursday as the market participants saw statements signaling that Moscow and Washington would proceed with striking an oil production agreement, analysts said.

The MOEX Russia Index increased by 2.92% to 2,545.95, and the RTS Index rose by 4.69% to 1,034.06.

"The MOEX Russia Index and RTS remained in the green zone in the afternoon with the key support provided by the oil market," Yelena Kozhukhova, analyst at Veles Capital, said.

Andrei Kochetkov, senior analyst at Otkritie Broker, said that investors were waiting for statements concerning the possible Russia–U.S. deal throughout most of the day, and the market trend was close to neutral. The analyst said that the market will understand whether an oil production agreement between the U.S. and Russia is possible in a few days, and if it is not, the oil price can hit century record lows.

Alexander Bakhtin, investment strategist at BCS Premier, said that the Russian government’s refusal to raise output in times of low demand also supported the Russian market. 

After the noon, the Russian market started decreasing following the European trading floors, and deceleration in the Brent price recovery, Bakhtin said.

"The market could have been struck by the statistics. Primary unemployment applications in the U.S. surged to 6.65 million last week compared to a forecast was 3.5 million. This dynamics reflects the depth of a destructive effect of the COVID-19 spread and restrictions on the U.S. economy," Bakhtin said.

Valery Yemelyanov, analyst at investment company Freedom Finance, said that in the evening, the decline somewhat deepened as the quarantine was prolonged until May 1.

But later in the evening, Russian stocks grew strongly after a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump that he had negotiated oil prices with the authorities of Russia and Saudi Arabia and hoped for a production cut of about 15 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia called for an urgent meeting of OPEC plus states, Kozhukhova said.

According to Kochetkov, oil companies were the Russian market’s leaders while the other exporters, first of all, metals producers, fell due to strengthening of the ruble.

Kochetkov said that X5 Retail Group increased 3.58% on the London Stock Exchange because of a strong online presence at the time when online orders surged because of the lockdown. The competitors of the retailer were late with launching the service.   

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

Company	Change, %	Last price, rbl	Trading volume, bln rbl
Sberbank	+1.17	186.95	23.370
Lukoil	+8.03	5050	19.126
Gazprom	+3.88	187.04	16.173
Rosneft	+6.07	340.5	13.089
Norilsk Nickel	+0.24	18998	8.815

(77.7325 rubles – U.S. $1)

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